No bequest is valid whereby the vesting of the thing bequeathed may be delayed beyond the life-time of one or more persons living at the testator's death and the minority of some person who shall be in existence at the expiration of that period, and to whom, if he attains full age, the thing bequeathed is to belong.
Illustrations:
(i) A fund is bequeathed to A for his life and after his death to B for his life; and after B's death to such of the sons of B as shall first attain the age of 25. A and B survive the testator. Here the son of B who shall first attain the age of 25 may be a son born after the death of the testator; such son may not attain 25 until more than 18 years have elapsed from the death of the longer liver of A and B; and the vesting of the fund may thus be delayed beyond the lifetime of A and B and the minority of the sons of B. The bequest after B's death is void.
(ii) A fund is bequeathed to A for his life, and after his death to B for his life, and after B's death to such of B's sons as shall first attain the age of 25. B dies in the lifetime of the testator, leaving one or more sons. In this case the sons of B are persons living at the time of the testator's decease, and the time ashen either of them will attain 25 necessarily falls within his own lifetime. The bequest is valid.
(iii) A fund is bequeathed to A for his life, and after his death to B for his life, with a direction that after B's death it shall be divided amongst such of B's children as shall attain the age of 18, but that, if no child of B shall attain that age, the fund shall go to C. Here the time for the division of the fund must arrive at the latest at the expiration of 18 years from the death of B, a person living at the testator's decease. All the bequests are valid.
(iv) A fund is bequeathed to trustees for the benefit of the testator's daughters, with a direction that, if any of them marry under age, her share of the fund shall be settled so as to devolve after her death upon such of her children as shall attain the age of 18. Any daugther of the testator to whom the direction applies must be in existence at his decease, and any portion of the fund which may eventually be settled as directed must vest not later than 18 years from the death of the daughters whose share it was. All these provisions are valid.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 114
Section 114 codifies the celebrated Rule Against Perpetuities, voiding any bequest whereby the vesting of property may be delayed beyond the lifetime of persons living at the testator's death plus the minority of an unborn person.
The maximum statutory period of perpetuity permitted under Indian law is: Life in being + Period of gestation + Actual minority (18 years). The rule is applied with absolute mathematical rigor: the court examines possibilities, not actual events. If at the moment of the testator's death there exists even the barest theoretical possibility that vesting could be delayed beyond the perpetuity period, the bequest is void from the outset.
Section 114 is a fatal hazard in trust and class drafting. If a will directs that property shall vest in grandchildren 'when they attain the age of 21 years' (or 25 years), the bequest violates Section 114 because Indian law defines minority strictly as 18 years under the Majority Act (unless under a court guardian). Postponing vesting beyond age 18 for an unborn person instantly destroys the entire bequest.