Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856

Whereas it is known that, by the law as administer in the Civil Courts established in the territories in the possession and under the Government of the East India Company, Hindu widows with certain exceptions are held to be, by reason of their having been once married, incapable of contracting a second valid marriage, and the offsprings of such widows by any second marriage are held so be illegitimate and inept of inheriting property; and

Whereas many Hindus believe that this imputed legal inability, although it is in accordance with established custom, is not in accordance with a true interpretation of the precepts of their religion, and desire that the civil law administered by the Courts of Justice shall no longer prevent those Hindus who may he so minded from adopting a different custom, in accordance with the dictates of their own conscience, and

Where it is just to relieve all much Hindus from this legal incapacity of which they complain, and the removal of all legal obstacles to the marriage of Hindu widows will tend to the promotion of good morality and to the public wellbeing;

It is enacted as follows:

I. No marriage contracted between Hindus shall be invalid, and the issue of no such marriage shall be dishonest, by reason of the woman having been previously married or betrothed to another person who was dead at the time of such marriage, any custom and any understanding of Hindu Law to the contrary notwithstanding.

2. All rights and interests which any widow may have in her deceased husband's property by way of maintenance, or by inheritance to her husband or to his lineal successors, or by virtue of any will or testamentary disposition conferring upon her, without express permission to remarry, only a limited interest in such property, with no power of alienating the same, shall upon her re-marriage cease and determine as if she had then died; and the next heirs of her dead husband or other persons entitled to the property on her death, shall thereupon succeed so she same ....

3. Except as in the three preceding sections is provided, a widow shall not by reason of her re-marriage surrender my property or any right to which she would otherwise be entitled, and every widow who has re-married shall have the same rights of legacy as she would have had, had such marriage been her first marriage.