Before the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 took effect, what body of principles did courts in British India often draw on when local law or usage supplied no applicable rule for a transfer of…

Before the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 came into force on 1 July 1882, there was no general statute on transfers of immovable property, and where local law or usage gave no rule the courts drew on English law and equity, applied as justice, equity and good conscience suited to Indian conditions. The Indian Registration Act, 1877 dealt only with the registration of documents and the Specific Relief Act, 1877 with remedies such as specific performance, so neither supplied the substantive rules of transfer. The Indian Contract Act, 1872 governs agreements and was never a code of transfers of immovable property.