Kalu vs Howwa Kiri – clr volume 2 page 054

In the case between Kalu (Plaintiff) and Howwa Kiri (Defendant), the court addressed the issue of whether a daughter, upon leaving her father’s household to live with a husband in a diga marriage, forfeits her right to an undivided share in her deceased father’s land under Kandyan customary law, particularly when the marriage is unregistered under Ordinance No. 3 of 1870. It was held that a daughter who is conducted in diga form or who leaves the father’s home to reside as a wife in another household loses her inheritance rights, regardless of marriage registration status. This reaffirmed the principle that inheritance exclusion under Kandyan law is attached to the act of leaving the parental household, not to the registration or indissolubility of marriage. The decision relied on establis