Sections 1 and 3 explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.
Section 1 gives the Act its name, and section 3 lets the State Government take the members of a race, sect or tribe out of many of its provisions. Together with the application sections that open each Part, they decide whether the Act reaches a particular deceased person at all. This article reads those provisions as per the text of the Act consulted and then maps the application sections that follow. For a family facing a real estate, a legal consultation can confirm which Part to start with.
The Act is called The Indian Succession Act, 1925 (39 of 1925), and its long title is that it consolidates the law applicable to intestate and testamentary succession. Under section 3 the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, exempt the members of any race, sect or tribe from sections 5 to 49, 58 to 191, 212, 213 and 215 to 369. Persons so exempted are called "exempted persons". Whether the Act applies to a given estate depends on the application section of each Part, not on section 1.
Section 1: the short title only
As printed in the copy consulted, section 1 reads: "This Act may be called The Indian Succession Act, 1925." That is all it says. The copy prints no extent clause and no commencement clause under section 1. A bracketed date appears at the head of the copy, above the long title, but the text itself contains no section that fixes a commencement, so this article states none.
The head of the copy also shows the long title and the preamble. Both say the Act is to consolidate the law applicable to intestate and testamentary succession, and both end with an omission mark ("[ *]") where words were taken out. The copy lists, at its head, the laws that amended the Act; that list is a publisher's addition and is not part of the sections.
Section 3: exemption of a race, sect or tribe
Section 3(1) gives the State Government a power with four features.
- How: by notification in the Official Gazette.
- When it takes effect: either retrospectively from the sixteenth day of March, 1865, or prospectively.
- From what: any of sections 5 to 49, 58 to 191, 212, 213 and 215 to 369.
- For whom: the members of any race, sect or tribe in the State, or of any part of such race, sect or tribe, to whom the State Government considers it impossible or inexpedient to apply such provisions or any of them mentioned in the order.
Section 3(2) allows the State Government, by a like notification, to revoke an exemption order, but not so that the revocation has retrospective effect.
Section 3(3) supplies the label. Persons exempted under section 3, or exempted from the Indian Succession Act, 1865 (10 of 1865) under section 332 of that Act, are in this Act referred to as exempted persons. The phrase then recurs in later sections; for example, sections 211, 218 and 219 speak of exempted persons.
Read the range carefully. The sections that can be switched off are 5 to 49 (domicile, marriage, consanguinity and intestate succession), 58 to 191 (most of the law of wills), 212, 213 and 215 to 369 (parts of the law on probate and administration). Sections 1, 2, 4, 50 to 57, 192 to 211, 214 and 370 onwards are not in the list of sections that section 3 allows the State Government to exempt. The text does not say which race, sect or tribe has been exempted anywhere; that is something to be checked in the notifications of the State concerned, as notified, and this article names none.
Who each Part applies to, in the Act's own words
Because section 1 says nothing about extent or persons, the work is done by the application section of each Part. The table below states only what those sections print.
| Provision | What the text says about application |
|---|---|
| Section 4 (Part II, Domicile) | The Part shall not apply if the deceased was a Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina. |
| Section 20(2) (marriage) | Section 20 does not apply to a marriage contracted before the first day of January, 1866, nor to a marriage where one or both parties professed the Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina religion at the time. |
| Section 22(2) | Sections 21 and 22 do not apply to a will made or intestacy occurring before the first day of January, 1866, nor to succession to the property of any Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina. |
| Section 23 (Part IV, Consanguinity) | Not to a will made or intestacy occurring before 1 January 1866, nor to succession to the property of any Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh, Jaina or Parsi. |
| Section 29 (Part V, Intestate Succession) | Not to an intestacy before 1 January 1866 nor to the property of any Hindu, Muhammadan, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina; otherwise, save as provided by any other law for the time being in force, the Part is the law of India in all cases of intestacy. |
| Section 31 | Chapter II (sections 31 to 49) does not apply to Parsis; Chapter III is headed "Special Rules For Parsi Intestates". |
| Section 58 (Part VI, Testamentary Succession) | Not to testamentary succession to the property of any Muhammadan, nor, save as provided by section 57, to that of any Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina, nor to any will made before 1 January 1866. |
| Sections 211 to 213 (Part VIII) | Each carries its own limits for the classes it names; see the article on those sections. |
| Sections 217 to 219 (Part IX) | Section 217 applies the Part to grants and administration "save as otherwise provided by this Act or by any other law for the time being in force"; sections 218 and 219 divide deceased persons into two groups. |
| Section 370 (Part X) | Succession certificates are not granted for a debt or security that must be established by probate or letters of administration under section 212 or 213. |
Part VII (sections 192 to 210), on the protection of the property of a deceased person, prints no application section. This article therefore adds no limit to it.
Where the Act leaves a question to a separate law, such as succession among Hindus, the Act does not answer it. Our guide on intestate succession under the Hindu Succession Act deals with that separate law.
A practical illustration
Take Meera, who dies leaving a flat and savings accounts. Her family wants to know which rules to read. The sensible order is: first look at the application section of the Part concerned (for example section 29 for intestacy or section 58 for a will); second, check whether any exemption order under section 3 has been notified for her race, sect or tribe, because an exempted person is outside the sections named in the notification; third, read the chapter itself. The names in this example are invented, and it applies only the process printed in the Act. The defined terms used in these sections, such as "executor" and "probate", are in section 2; see our article on section 2. The rules on domicile that follow in Part II are in our article on sections 4 to 6.
Repealed provisions
The copy prints section 392 (Repeals) and Schedule IX (enactments repealed) as repealed by the Repealing Act, 1927 (12 of 1927). They have no operative content here and are not explained.
Later changes
The text consulted is an unofficial web print showing amendments up to the Indian Succession (Amendment) Act, 2002 (26 of 2002). Later amendments should be checked before the words above are relied on.
Need help with applying the Act to a real estate?
If a family is unsure which Part governs a deceased relative's property, or whether an exemption order matters, we can walk through the application sections with the documents in hand. Start with our legal consultation page.
Key takeaways
- Section 1 gives only the short title, The Indian Succession Act, 1925.
- Section 3 lets the State Government exempt a race, sect or tribe from sections 5 to 49, 58 to 191, 212, 213 and 215 to 369, by notification.
- Persons exempted under section 3 are called exempted persons.
- Each Part states its own limits; read the application section before the chapter.
- Part VII prints no application section.
Read next
- Section 2: definitions of executor, administrator, probate, will and codicil
- Sections 4-6: domicile and succession to movable and immovable property
- Sections 29-30: when a person dies intestate
- NRI wills, probate and ancillary probate
Disclaimer: Based on an unofficial print of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 showing amendments up to the Indian Succession (Amendment) Act, 2002 (26 of 2002), as consulted on 2 October 2026. It explains the words of the statute only; later amendments, State amendments and rules, court fees and the way courts apply these sections should be checked. This article is general information, not legal advice; check the official text before acting.