Will construction under succession law includes property answering the description at death, preventing intestacy where no contrary intention appears.

Section 90 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 requires a will to be read as speaking from the testator's death, so a gift of property described in the will covers the property answering that description at death unless a contrary intention appears. Applying that rule, the Supreme Court treated the disputed items as included in the bequest because the testator had perfected title before death and the will showed no contrary intention. The retrospective operation of registration under Section 47 of the Registration Act, 1908 also supported that title related back to the sale deed. The broader grant of letters of administration was therefore restored and confinement of the grant to other items was rejected.

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Issues: Whether, in construing a will, property described in the will but title to which was perfected only before the testator's death, falls within the bequest under Section 90 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, so as to justify grant of letters of administration for those items.

Analysis: Section 90 creates a statutory fiction that the description in a will of the subject of a gift refers to the property answering that description at the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention appears in the will. The provision is intended to be given full effect so as to avoid intestacy, and a will is ordinarily construed as speaking from the date of the testator's death. On the facts, the testator obtained full title to the disputed items before his death, and no contrary intention was discernible in the will. The retrospective effect of registration under Section 47 of the Registration Act, 1908 also supported the conclusion that title related back to the date of execution of the sale deed.

Conclusion: The disputed properties were covered by the will and the grant of letters of administration could not be confined only to the remaining items.

Final Conclusion: The High Court's restriction of the grant was set aside and the broader grant was restored, while the connected appeal was dismissed in line with that decision.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of a contrary intention in the will, Section 90 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 requires the description of the devised property to be read as referring to the property answering that description at the testator's death, and the court must avoid a construction that produces intestacy.

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