Portuguese Civil Code governs Goan succession in India; probate does not defeat heirs' substantive inheritance rights.

The Portuguese Civil Code, 1867, as continued in Goa, Daman and Diu under Indian legislation, was held not to be foreign law for this dispute, so private international law doctrines such as renvoi did not apply. Succession to immovable property of a Goan domicile situated anywhere in India was held to be governed by that Code as the special law, not by the Indian Succession Act or general succession statutes, and Article 24 was inapplicable. Probate was confined to proving the will's genuineness and did not alter substantive inheritance rights under the applicable succession law, including the legitime of heirs. The appeal succeeded and the Bombay property was to form part of the succession inventory.

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Issues: (i) Whether the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867 is a foreign law attracting private international law principles; (ii) Whether succession to immovable property of a Goan domicile situated outside Goa is governed by the Portuguese Civil Code or by the Indian Succession Act and other general succession laws; (iii) Whether grant of probate of the will affects the rights of inheritance under the applicable succession law.

Issue (i): Whether the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867 is a foreign law attracting private international law principles.

Analysis: The territories of Goa, Daman and Diu became part of India upon annexation and the Portuguese Civil Code continued there only because it was preserved and applied by the Goa, Daman and Diu (Administration) Act, 1962. Once so applied, the Code ceased to be a foreign law for the purposes of the dispute and had the character of an Indian law. The controversy was therefore not one of private international law, and doctrines such as renvoi were inapplicable.

Conclusion: The Portuguese Civil Code, 1867 is not to be treated as a foreign law for this case, and private international law principles do not apply.

Issue (ii): Whether succession to immovable property of a Goan domicile situated outside Goa is governed by the Portuguese Civil Code or by the Indian Succession Act and other general succession laws.

Analysis: The Code operates in Goa as a special and local law for Goan domiciles, and its succession scheme proceeds on the basis of unity of succession and legitime. Reading the Code in the context of its application within India, the Court held that the special law prevails over the general succession statutes. Article 24 of the Code was held inapplicable because a Goan domicile living elsewhere in India cannot be treated as residing in a foreign country. If the contrary view were accepted, succession would fragment across different regimes depending on the location of assets, defeating certainty and the scheme of legitime.

Conclusion: Succession to the properties of a Goan domicile, wherever situated in India, is governed by the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867, and not by the Indian Succession Act or other general succession laws.

Issue (iii): Whether grant of probate of the will affects the rights of inheritance under the applicable succession law.

Analysis: Probate proceedings are confined to determining the genuineness of the will. Grant of probate does not decide title or override substantive succession rights created by the applicable law. The legitime under the Code represents rights of the heirs which cannot be defeated merely by a probate order.

Conclusion: The probate order did not affect the rights of inheritance under the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeds, the impugned judgment is set aside, and the property in Bombay is required to be treated as part of the inventory for succession proceedings under the applicable Goan civil law regime.

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