The Malabar Wills Act, 1898

 
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The Malabar Wills Act, 1898 
 
Act 5 of 1898 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Keyword(s): 
Minor, Will, Codicil, Testamentary Powers 
 
eP2 Will8 (Malabar) 11898: T.N. Act V 
l/TAMIL NADU] ACT No. V OF 189tIa. 
(Received the assent of the Goverw on the 9th July 1898 ; 
and of the Governor-Ceneral on the 3rd August 1898.) 
An Act to declare the testamentary power of 
persons governed by the Marumakkatayam 
or the Aliyasantsna law of inheritance, 
and to provide rules for the execution, 
attestation, revocation and revival of the 
wills of such persons. 
Preamble. Whereas doubts have arisen regarding the testa- 
mentary power of persons governed by the Marumak- 
katayam or the Aliyasantana law of inheritance ; and 
whereas it is expedient to remove such doubts, and to 
provide rules for the execution, attestation, revocation 
and revival of the wills of such persons ; It is hereby 
enacted as follows :- 
PART I. 
PRELIMINARY. 
Short title. 1. (1) This Aot may be called the Malabar Wills Aot, 
1898. 
Local extent. (2) It extends to the whole of the 3[State of 
Tamil Nedu] ; and 
.- --- - 
1 These words were substituted for the word " Madras " by 
the Tamil Nadu Adaptation of Laws Order, 1969, as amended by 
the Tamil Nadu Adaptation of Laws (Seaond Amendment) Order, 
1969, which came into force on the 14th January 1969. 
a For Statement of Objects and Reasons, 8ee Pwt St. Gwrge 
Gazette Supplement. dated thc 24th November 1896, p. 2: for 
Report of the Select Committee, we ibid, dated the. 8th May 1898 ; 
for Proceedings in Counoil, see &id, dated the 12th January 1897, 
p. 23 ; &id, dated the 9th Maroh 1897, p. 46 ; ibid, dated tho 
1st February 1898, p. 13 ; &id. dated the 3rd May 1898, p. 34; - 
and ibid, dated the 12th July 1898, p. 3. 
The Governor-Genoral'b: aswrlt to this Act was published in the 
Port St. George Gazette, dated th~ 16th August 1898. 
Thia Act was extended to the merged State of Pudukkottai by 
seation 3 of, and the First Schedule to, the Tamil Nedu Merged 
States (Laws) Act, 1949 (Tamil Nadu Act XXXV of 1949). 
' This :~:xpression waa substituted for the expression  resideno no^ 
of Madras by t,he Talnil Nadu Adaptation of Lawe Order, 1970, 
whioh wse deemed to have oome into forroe on the 14th Jenusry 1969, 
- 
I 
1898 : T.N. Act V] will8  ahba bar) 443 
(3) It shall com0 into force on such date] as the Uommenae- 
s[State Government] by notification s11aU appoint in merit. 
this behalf : 
2. In this Act, unless there be something repugnant ~nterprehtio,. 
in the subject or context,-- ohuse. 
(1) " minor " means any person who shall not "Minor. 
have completed the age of eighteen years : 
(2) " will " means any legal declaration of the "Will". 
intentions of the testator with respect to his property 
which he desires to be carried into effect after his death : 
(3) " codicil " means an instrument made in 46Coclioil". 
relation to a will and explaining, altering or adding 
to its dispositions. It is considered as forming an 
additional part of the will. 
PART 11. 
3. This part shall apply to persons domiciled in the Persons to 
.[State of Tamil Nadu] who are governed by tbe ;ps$; 
Marumakkatayam or the Aliyasantana low of inberi- apply. 
tance. - ---C--- 
1 The Act came into foroo on tho 2nd September 1898, see Port 
S ti wrge Gazette, 1898, Pt. I, p. 818, Notification No. 421, 2nd Sep- 
tem f er 1898. 
2 The words " Provinoial qpvernment " mere substituted for 
the words I'Locnl ~vernment by the Adaptation Order of 1937 
and the word " State " was aubstituted for " Provincial " by the 
Adaptation Order of 1960. 
9 The proviso wae omittod by section 4 of, and the Third 
Schedule to, the Tamil Nadu Repeding and Amending Act, 1967 
(Tamil Ndu Act XKV of 1957). In so fa? as this Act applies to 
tho added territories, thia proviso was omitted by section 4 of, and 
the Seoond Schedule to, the Tamil Nadu (Added Territories) 
Extension of Laws (No. 2) Act, 1961 (Tamil Nadu Act 39 of 
1901). 
4 This expression was substituted for the expression " Presi- 
denoy of $adras " by the Tamil Nadu Adaptation of Law. Order, 
1970, whl& waa deemed to have aome into force on the 14th 
Jsnuerg 1969. 
444 Wills (Malabar) 11898 : T.N. Act V 
Persons 4. Every person of sound mind and not a minor may 
oapble of by will dispose of property which he could legally 
, making alienate by gift inter vivos and shall be deemed to have 
been always competent so to dispose of such property. 
Explanation I.-Persons who are deaf or dumb or 
blind are not thereby incapacitated for making a will, 
if they are able to know what they do by it. 
Explanation 11.-One who is ordinarily insane may 
make a will during an interval in which he is of 
sound mind. 
Explanation IIT.-No person can make a will while 
he is in such a state of mind whether arising from 
drunkenness or from illness or &om any other oause,that 
he does not know what he is doing. 
Will obtain- 5. A will or any part of a will, the making of whioh ad by fraud, 
ow,ion or has been caused by fraud or ooeroion, or by euah 
importunity. importunity as takes away the free agency of the teata- 
tor, is void. 
Win may be 6. A will is liable to be revgked or altered by the 
PBVOked* Or maker of it at any time when he is competent to dispose sltered. 
of his property by will. 
Saving 
olauee. 7. Nothing contained in section 4 shall- 
(a) affect any right established before the 
commencement of this Act by a final decree of a 
Court of competent jurisdiction ; 
(b) authorize a testator to deprive any persons of 
any right of maintenance of which, but for section 4, 
he could not deprive them by will ; 
(c) affect any law of intestate succession or 
authorize any testator to create in property any 
interest, which he could not have created prior to this 
Act. 
1898 : T.N. Act V] Wills (Malabar) 446 
PART IXI, 
8. This part shall apply to persons governed by the Peraons whom this to 
Marumakkatayam or the Aliyasantana law of inheri- Part shall 
tance, whether they are domiciled in the l[State of apply. 
Tamil Nadu] or not. 
9. All wills and codicils made on or after the date of ~xecution,! 
the commencement of this Act within the '[State of willsand 
Tamil Nadu], and all such wills and codicils made codicils. 
outaide the =[mid State] so far as relate to immovable 
property situated wikhin the %[said State], must be 
executed according to the following rules :- 
1st.-The testator shall sign or shall affix his 
mark to the will, or it shall be signed by some other 
person in his presence and by his direction. 
2nd.-The signature or mark of the testator, or 
the signature of the person signing for him, shall be so 
placed that it shall appear that it was intended thereby 
to give effect to the writing as a will. 
3rd.-The will shall be attested by two or more 
witnesses, each of whom must have seen the testator, 
sign or a& his mark to the will, or have seen some 
other person sign the will in the presence and by the 
direction of the testator, or have received from the 
testator a personal acknowledgment of his signature 
or mark, or of the signature of such other person ; and 
each of the witnesses must sign thc will in the prescrloe 
of the testator, but it shall not be necessary that' more 
than one witness be present at the shme time, and no 
particular form of attestation shall be necessary. 
1 This expression was substituted for the expression " Presidency 
of Madras " by the Tamil Nadu Adaptation of Laws Order, 1970, 
w&h was deemed to have come into force on the 14th January 1969. 
a These words were substituted for the words "said Presidency" 
by paragraph 4 of, and the Sche,dule to, iid. 
Lncorpora- 
tion of 
pepera by referenoe. 
Witness not 
disqualified 
by intsrest 
or by being 
exooutor. 
Revocation 
of will or 
codicil. 
l ffeo t of 
obliteration, 
interlinea- 
tion or 
alteration 
in a will. 
Revival of 
e will or 
codicil. 
Wills (aalabar) . [I898 : .I'.N. Aet l? 
10. If a testator, in a will or codicil duly attested, 
refers to any other document then actuallywritten, as 
expressing any part of his intentions, such documents 
shall be coilsidered as forming g part of the will or 
codicil in which it is referred to. 
11. No pcrson, by reason of interest in, or of his 
being an executor of a will, is disqualified as a witness 
to prove the execution of tlie will or to prove the validity 
or invalidity thereof. 
12. No will or coclicil, nor any part thereof, shall be 
revoked otherwise than by another will or codicil, or 
by some writing clccluring an illtentioil to revoke the 
same and excouted in the manner in which a will is 
hercilibcfbre required to be cxccuted, or by the 
burning, tearing or otherwise destroying the same by 
the tcstator, or by somc person in his presence and by 
his direction, with the intention of revoking the same. 
13. No obliteration, interlineation or other altera- 
tion made in any will after the execution thereof shall 
have any affect, except so far as the words or meaning 
of the will shall have been thereby rendered illegible or 
undiscernible, unless such alteration shall be executed 
in like manner as hereinbefore is required for the 
execution of thc will ; ssvc that the will, as so altereci, 
shall be deemed to be duly executed if the signature of 
the sttahabor and the subscription of the witnesses be 
made in the margin or on some other part of the will 
opposite or near to such alteration, or at the foot or end 
of or opposite to a memorandum referring to such 
alteration, and written at the end or some other part 
of the will. 
14. No will or codicil, nor any part tihereof, which 
shall be in any manner revoked, shall be revived other- 
wise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil 
executed in manner hereinbefore required, and 
ehowing an intention to revive the same ; and when 
any will or codioil, which shall bepartly revoked and 
afterwards wholly revoked, shall be revived, euoh 
1898 : T.N. Aet *O] . 441 
revival shall not extend to so much thereof as shall have 
been revoked before the revocation of the whole 
thereof, unlegs an intention to the contrary shall be 
shown by the will or codicil. 
15. No will or-codicil made by a soldier employed in Execution 
an expedition or engaged in actual warfare or by a and revocct. 
tion of will 
mariner at sea and no revocation by such persoil of his or 
will or codicil shall be deemed invalid by reason only by ~oldiers 
of such will, codicil or revocation not being made in Or 
aooordance with the provisions of this Part. 

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