Enlargement of limited estate of women into their absolute estate — MCQs

All questions with answers and explanations

Read the full set here, or use the practice card above to test yourself one question at a time.

1. Section 14(1) converts a Hindu woman's property, however acquired, into:

   • A limited estate
   • Full ownership, automatically (correct answer)
   • Government property
   • Joint family property

   Explanation. Section 14(1) automatically enlarges any property she possesses into full, absolute ownership.

2. "Possessed" under Section 14(1) includes:

   • Only actual physical possession
   • Property in which she has some existing right or interest (correct answer)
   • Only registered possession
   • Possession after a court decree only

   Explanation. She must have some existing right or interest in the property.

3. Section 14(2) applies only where:

   • A document merely quantifies a pre-existing right
   • A document creates a genuinely new, restricted interest for the first time (correct answer)
   • The woman is over 60
   • The property is agricultural land

   Explanation. Section 14(2) is a narrow exception limited to a fresh grant that restricts her interest for the first time.

4. In V. Tulasamma v. Sesha Reddy (1977), property given in lieu of a pre-existing maintenance right, even with restrictive wording, fell under:

   • Section 14(2)
   • Section 14(1) (correct answer)
   • Section 15(2)
   • Section 30

   Explanation. Tulasamma held that a document giving effect to a pre-existing right falls under Section 14(1), regardless of restrictive wording.

5. The Tulasamma test is often called the:

   • Notional partition test
   • Pre-existing right test (correct answer)
   • Suspicious circumstances test
   • Living coparcener test

   Explanation. Tulasamma's decisive test asks whether the document gives effect to a right the woman already possessed.

6. Section 14(1) applies to property that a Hindu woman acquired:

   • Only before the Act
   • Before or after the Act (correct answer)
   • Only after the Act
   • Only by purchase

   Explanation. Section 14(1) covers property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the Act.

7. Section 14's Explanation expressly includes, as "property":

   • Only property acquired after 1956
   • Stridhan she already held immediately before the Act commenced (correct answer)
   • Only immovable property
   • Only property acquired by purchase

   Explanation. The Explanation expressly includes stridhan held immediately before the Act commenced, among many other sources.

8. Section 14 decides the character of ownership; Section 15 decides:

   • The same thing, redundantly
   • Who inherits the property after her death (correct answer)
   • Only testamentary matters
   • Agricultural land classification

   Explanation. Section 14 governs the quality of ownership (limited vs. full); Section 15 governs who succeeds to it after her death.