PART I FAMILY RIGHTS AND RELATION LAWS FOR ALL COMMUNITIES
Chapter I Civil and Substantive Laws
Chapter II Penal and Procedural Laws
PART II PERSONAL LAWS OF FOUR COMMUNITIES RELATING TO FAMILY RIGHTS AND RELATIONS
Chapter I Background Information
Chapter II Matrimonial Relations
Chapter III Domestic Ties and Liabilities
PART III PERSONAL LAW OF MUSLIM COMMUNITIES RELATING TO FAMILY RIGHTS AND RELATIONS
Chapter 1 Background Information
Chapter II Matrimonial Relations
Chapter III Domestic Ties and Liabilities
PART IV PERSONAL LAWS OF OTHER COMMUNITIES RELATING TO FAMILY RIGHTS AND RELATIONS
Chapter I Christian Matrimonial Law
Chapter II Laws of Parsis and Others
PART V PROPERTY AND SUCCESSION LAWS FOR ALL COMMUNITIES
Chapter I Family Rights Protection
Chapter II Inheritance and Wills
PART VI PERSONAL LAWS OF FOUR COMMUNITIES RELATING TO PROPERTY AND SUCCESSION
Chapter I Inheritance and Wills
Chapter II Joint Family Law Reform
PART VII PERSONAL LAW OF MUSLIM COMMUNITIES RELATING TO PROPERTY AND SUCCESSION
Chapter I Property, Gifts and Wills
Chapter II Law of Inheritance
PART VIII PERSONAL LAWS OF CHRISTIANS AND OTHER COMMUNITIES RELATING TO PROPERTY AND SUCCESSION
Chapter I Christian Communities
Chapter II Parsis and Smaller Communities

Family law in India is a complex branch of the nation's legal system, spread over two distinct categories of laws—one consisting of general laws applicable to all citizens irrespective of their religion and the other comprising personal laws meant for particular religious communities or groups of communities. In my long academic career, I have written a lot on the two major laws falling in the latter category known as the Hindu and Muslim laws. This is my first comprehensive work running the gamut of our family law system in its entirety.
The book has been arranged in eight parts preceded by an introduction relating to the laws of family rights and relations, explaining the concepts and contents of family law in general and the family law system of India in its historical and constitutional context. Part I is devoted to the general family laws applicable to all communities, and Parts II and III to Hindu and Muslim laws, respectively. Personal laws of the Christians and other smaller communities have been briefly taken up in Part IV.
The law relating to property and succession rights is a complex branch of the country's family law. Like the laws of family rights and relations, here also there is a duality of general and community-specific laws. The general laws of property and succession form the subject matter of Part V in this book—the focus being on the Indian Succession Act of 1925. Part VI in this book contains a study of property and succession laws governing the Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. The focus there is on the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, which, besides providing the rules of inheritance, has drastically reformed the traditional laws on joint family and coparcenary.
The personal law of the Muslims contains elaborate chapters on gifts, wills, and inheritance. The law of inheritance among these is generally seen as a labyrinth of perplexities. Part VII of this book offers an account of all these chapters of Muslim law, simplified as much as possible. ---provided by publisher