DOCTRINE OF RELATION BACK.—

According to this doctrine a son adopted by the widow under the authority of her husband was deemed to have come into existence in the adoptive family on the day the husband died, the adopted son was put in the position of posthumous son and all his relations in the adoptive family related back to the date of the death of his adoptive father by legal fiction.

This theory was based on a doctrine that there should be no hiatus in the continuity of the line of adoptive father. The doctrine has got the relevance with respect to succession of the property of the adoptive father.

The rule had two exceptions :—

1. That any lawful alienation effected by a female heir since the death of the adoptive father and before the date of adoption was binding on the adopted son.

2. That if the property by inheritance went to a collateral, the adoption could not divest the property which was vested in the heir of the collateral.

SRIPAD GONJAM V. DATTA RAM KASHI NATH

In above case, Supreme Court has explained the meaning of the doctrine of relation back in the following words, "when a widow adopts a son to her husband, doctrine makes sonship retrospective from the moment of the death of the late husband."

The adopted son is deemed to have born on the date of the death of the adoptive father. The propositions that emerge are that a widow's adoption cannot be stultified by an anterior partition of the joint family and the adopted son can claim a share as if he were begotten and was alive when the adoptive father breathed last.

LIMITATION

The principles of Relation Back applies only when the claim made by the adopted son relates to the estate of his adoptive father and it is the interest of the adoptive father which the adopted son is entitled to take as on the date of his death.

This principle does not apply when the claim made by the adopted son relates to the estate of the collateral. With respect to the estate of a collateral the governing principles is that inheritance can never be in abeyance, and that once it devolves on a person who is a nearest heir under the law; it is thereafter not liable to be divested.

The principle of Relation Back is subject to limitation by which if the property by inheritance goes to a collateral and a son is adopted after the death of the collateral, the adoption does not divest the property which has vested in the heir of the collateral.