achara

Achara means the usage and conduct of good people. Manu and Yajnavalkya list it, as sadachara (the conduct of the virtuous), among the sources of dharma, after sruti and smriti. In practice it was very powerful: the Privy Council held that clear proof of usage will outweigh the written text of the law.

Modern Hindu law continues this. The Hindu Marriage Act and the other 1955–56 codifying Acts save customs that are ancient, certain, reasonable, not opposed to public policy and continuously observed. A custom must be strictly proved by the person who relies on it, for example a custom permitting marriage between cousins in parts of South India.

Example

The marriage between maternal cousins was valid despite the prohibited-degree rule because the parties proved an achara of their community permitting it, within s.3(a) HMA.

In Indian law

• Section 3(a), Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (definition of custom and usage)
• Collector of Madura v. Moottoo Ramalinga Sathupathy (Privy Council, 1868): clear proof of usage outweighs the written text

See also

custom · sources of law · smriti · sruti

Read more in the study notes

• Dharma and the sources of Hindu law (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
• Succession to a Hindu female and stridhana (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
• Custom as a source of law, and the three sources compared (Jurisprudence)
• Dharma and Indian legal thought, ancient and modern (Legal Theory)