Joint Family doctrine

Joint-family doctrine:

The Mitakshara doctrine of joint family property is founded upon the existence of an undivided family, as a corporate body Gan Savant Bal Savant v. Narayan Dhond Savant I.L.R. 7 Bom. 467 and Mayne's 'Hindu Law and Usage,' 6th edition, paragraph 270 and the possession of property by such corporate body. 

The first requisite therefore is the family unit; and the possession by it of property is the second requisite. For the present purpose, female members of the family may be left out of consideration and the conception of a Hindu family is a common male ancestor with his lineal descendants in the male line, and so long as that family is in its normal condition, viz., the undivided state--it forms a corporate body. Such corporate body, with its heritage, is purely a creature of law and cannot be created by act of parties, save in so far that, by adoption, a stranger may be affiliated as a member of that corporate family. Persons, who by birth or adoption are not members of a Hindu family, cannot, in the absence of a custom having the force of law, by more agreement, become or be made members of a joint family.

According to the above conception of a family, there may, of course, be one or more families all with one common ancestor, and each of the branches of that family, with a separate common ancestor.

As regards the property of such family, the 'unobstructed heritage' devolving on such family, with its accretions, is owned by the family as a corporate body, and one or more branches of that family, each forming a corporate body within a larger corporate body, may possess separate 'unobstructed heritage' which, with its accretions, may be exclusively owned by such branch as a corporate body.

--(Sudarsanam Maistri Vs. Narasimhulu Maistei and anr.  (1902)ILR25Mad149)