9. We are at a loss how to reconcile the introduction of this arbitrary change in the law of inheritance with the principles of justice, with reason, or with regard for the future prosperity of the country:—it appears inconsistent with the principles of justice; because a judge, although he is obliged to consult his own understanding, in interpreting the law in many dubious cases submitted to his decision, yet is required to observe strict adherence to the established law, where its language is clear. In every country, rules determining the rights of succession to, and alienation of property, first originated either in the conventional choice of the people, or in the discretion of the highest authority, secular or spiritual; and those rules have been subsequently established by the common usages of the country, and confirmed by judicial proceedings. The principles of the law as it exists in Bengal having been for ages familiar to the people, and alienations of landed property by sale, gift, mortgage, or succession having been for centuries conducted in reliance on the legality and perpetuity of the system, a sudden change in the most essential part of those rules cannot but be severely
settled by the case of Juggomohun Roy vs. Sreemutee Nemoo Dassee, when the Chief Justice, Sir Charles E. Grey, referred the matter to the Judges of the Sudder Dewany Adawlut who, after mature consideration, declared that a Hindu father had absolute power over ancestral property. Later on, the Privy Council declared the law in the case of Nagabuchnia Ummal vs. Gopoo Nadaraya Chetty, in the following terms: “Throughout Bengal a man who is the absolute owner of property may now dispose of it by will as he pleases whether it be ancestral or not.” Thus the law was settled once for all. It was the unsettled state of the law on account of Bhowanee Churn’s case and the expressed opinion of Sir Chirles Edward Grey, mentioned above, that called forth the present trertise from Ram Mohun Roy, and we think it helped a great deal in settling the law.
