- In order to address issues of personal law, attempts were undertaken to create a unified civil code following India’s independence in 1947.
- The universal Hindu Code Bill was the first attempt to bring together the disparate regional usages and customs. It was dropped in 1951 because of strong resistance.
- Since the Indian Constitution made the term “secular” a defining characteristic of the Indian republic, the unified family law was perceived as both unsecular and prejudiced towards the Hindu majority population.
- Similarly, the four main laws controlling the family and personal law matters of the Hindu community—the Hindu Marriage Act (1955), the Hindu Succession Act (1956), the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (1956), and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (1956)—were approved and codified by the Parliament in 1955–1956.
- As a result, Muslims are subject to Shariat law, Christians, Parsees, and Sikhs have their own codified marriage acts, and traditional groups still follow their uncodified customs.
Nature of Family Laws in India