(1) Any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be held by her as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner.
Explanation.— In this sub-section, "property" includes both movable and immovable property acquired by a female Hindu by inheritance or devise, or at a partition, or in lieu of maintenance or arrears of maintenance, or by gift from any person, whether a relative or not, before, at or after her marriage, or by her own skill or exertion, or by purchase or by prescription, or in any other manner whatsoever, and also any such property held by her as stridhana immediately before the commencement of this Act.
(2) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall apply to any property acquired by way of gift or under a will or any other instrument or under a decree or order of a civil court or under an award where the terms of the gift, will or other instrument or the decree, order or award prescribe a restricted estate in such property.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 14
Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 converts a female Hindu's limited estate into absolute ownership, abolishing the historic 'Hindu woman's estate'.
The judicial reconciliation between sub-sections (1) and (2) has been the subject of landmark constitutional jurisprudence.
Section 14 completely abolished the traditional shastric institution of the 'reversioner' and the 'limited widow's estate'. Once a female Hindu acquires property in recognition of her pre-existing right of maintenance, her ownership becomes absolute and indefeasible. She possesses unrestricted power to sell, gift, mortgage, or dispose of the property by Will under Section 30, and any reversionary heirs cannot challenge her alienations.