The Bombay Hindu Heirs’ Relief Act 1866 Bombay Act VII of 1866.

This Act falling under Entry V of List III is in force in Belgaum Area of the State. The preamble to that Act reads thus: “WHEREAS, according to the law in force, as applied to Hindus by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in the exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, no son or grandson of a deceased Hindu is liable for the debts of his ancestor merely by reason of his being such son or grandson, and no son, grandson or other heir of a deceased Hindu, who has received assets of the deceased, is merely from that circumstance liable for the debts of his ancestor beyond the amount of the assets received, and no person marrying a Hindu widow is liable in consequence of such marriage for the debts of her former or any prior deceased husband; and whereas a different law is applied to Hindus by the Civil Courts which exercise jurisdiction in places beyond the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the said High

Court, and it is expedient to amend the law as applied by such other Courts, and to make the law in that respect uniform throughout the Presidency of Bombay; and whereas it is also expedient to limit the liability of a Hindu for a family-debt contracted when he was unborn or under twenty-one years of age”; It limits the liability of a son, grandson or heir of a deceased Hindu for the debts of his ancestors, the liability of the second husband of a Hindu widow for the debts of her earlier husband, etc.