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Section 24: Kindred or consanguinity

Indian Succession Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 1925
Section 23 All 391 Sections of Indian Succession Act Section 25

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 24

Section 24 defines kindred or consanguinity as the connection or relation of persons descended from the same stock or common ancestor.

  • Protected Domestic Relationships & Scope: Section 24 provides the overarching conceptual definition of consanguinity for civil succession.
  • Core Legal Standard: Consanguinity requires a shared biological origin rooted in a common ancestor (stock).

It represents blood relationship, distinguishing biological kindred from ties created solely through affinity (marriage) or spiritual relationship.

Under this section, only those who trace their physical lineage back to the same common progenitor are considered kindred. This biological linkage forms the indispensable prerequisite for claiming any share in an intestate estate under the subsequent distribution rules of Part V, ensuring that strangers in blood—apart from the surviving spouse—are strictly excluded from the statutory line of succession.

Key Landmark Precedents:
  • B.N. Sharma v. Commissioner of Income Tax, AIR 1968 SC 1125: The Supreme Court observed that consanguinity under Section 24 denotes relationship by blood derived from a common ancestor, contrasting it with relationships established purely through marital affinity.
  • Solomon v. Solomon, AIR 1968 Del 223: The Delhi High Court held that the existence of consanguinity under Section 24 is a threshold condition precedent for claiming letters of administration in intestacy.
Legal Commentary:

Section 24 establishes that relatives by marriage (in-laws, step-parents, step-children) do not possess 'consanguinity' with the deceased. In Christian and civil intestate succession, step-children or mothers-in-law often assert moral claims to the estate; under Section 24, they are legally barred from claiming as kindred, as their connection is founded upon affinity rather than descent from a common stock.

Section 23 All 391 Sections of Indian Succession Act Section 25