Mary Roy V. State Of Kerala And Its Socio-Legal Impact

Himanshu Dubey & Ishika Goel, Jindal Global Law School

ABSTRACT

Before the period of 1949, the state of Travancore was a former princely state, which had its own laws for governing the succession of the Christian community through, the Travancore Succession act, an act for an intestate succession of property among the Christian community of the state. However, In July 1949, the state of Travancore was merged with the state of Cochin, and the Government of India extended the Indian succession act, of 1925, to the state of Travancore and Cochin. Although the applicability of the Travancore succession act was a matter of question after the extension of the Indian succession act and was raised in the landmark case of Mary Roy v. the State of Kerala. This paper attempts to elucidate on this landmark case and attempts to understand the judgment laid by the judges and further attempts to understand the socio-legal impact of the case on the community.