All NotesCivil LawTransfer of Property Act (TPA)

Transfer of Property Act (TPA)

TPA Sections 22 23 and 24

Sections 22, 23 and 24: A Class Attaining an Age, an Uncertain Event with No Time Fixed, and Survivorship at an Unspecified Period

Sections 19 and 21 say what a vested and a contingent interest are. The three sections that follow answer a narrower and more practical question: at what moment is the position to be ascertained? A deed may give property to such children as attain a particular age, or on an event without saying when it must occur, or to whoever is surviving at 'some period' without naming one. In each case the Act supplies the missing point of time, and in two of the three that point is the same — the moment the intermediate or precedent interest ceases to exist.

Figure 1: The three provisions and the moment each of them fixes

1. Section 22: Members of a Class Attaining a Particular Age

Section 22, TPA

'Where, on a transfer of property, an interest therein is created in favour of such members only of a class as shall attain a particular age, such interest does not vest in any member of the class who has not attained that age.'

  1. It is a rule of construction for the commonest form of class gift. 'To such of B's children as attain twenty-one' gives nothing to a child until he reaches that age.
  2. Until then the interest is contingent in each member, and section 21 governs it.
  3. Read it with section 21's exception. If the transferor also gives the income to the child meanwhile, or directs it to be applied for his benefit, the interest is not contingent and section 22 does not keep it from vesting.
  4. Read it with sections 14 and 15. Section 14 caps the age that may be specified, since vesting must occur within the perpetuity period; and section 15 confines any failure to the members whose interests offend.

2. Section 23: An Uncertain Event With No Time Mentioned

Section 23, TPA

'Where, on a transfer of property, an interest therein is to accrue to a specified person if a specified uncertain event shall happen, and no time is mentioned for the occurrence of that event, the interest fails unless such event happens before, or at the same time as, the intermediate or precedent interest ceases to exist.'

The section prevents an indefinite wait. Where a transferor has attached a contingency but has not said by when it must occur, the law reads in a limit: the event must happen before, or at the same time as, the prior interest comes to an end. If it has not happened by then, the interest fails altogether.

The limitation

Result

'To B for life, and after B's death to C if C marries D' — C marries D during B's lifetime

The interest accrues to C; the event happened before the precedent interest ceased

The same limitation, C not having married D when B dies

C's interest fails — the event did not happen in time

The same limitation, C marrying D on the day B dies

Good — the event happened at the same time as the precedent interest ceased

'To B for life, and after B's death to C if C marries D within five years of B's death'

Section 23 does not apply — a time is mentioned, and the limitation is tested under sections 21 and 14

3. Section 24: Survivorship at an Unspecified Period

Section 24, TPA

'Where, on a transfer of property, an interest therein is to accrue to such of certain persons as shall be surviving at some period, but the exact period is not specified, the interest shall go to such of them as shall be alive when the intermediate or precedent interest ceases to exist, unless a contrary intention appears from the terms of the transfer.'

Illustration — A transfers property to B for life, and after his death to C and D, equally to be divided, or to the survivor of them. C dies during B's lifetime. On B's death, the property goes to D.

  1. The point of ascertainment is again the end of the prior interest. 'The survivor' means the survivor at that moment, not at the date of the transfer or at any other time.
  2. It yields expressly to a contrary intention. If the deed fixes another period, that period governs.
  3. It resolves an ambiguity rather than destroying the gift. Unlike section 23, which makes the interest fail if the event is late, section 24 simply tells you who takes.

4. The Three Compared

Section 22

Section 23

Section 24

The problem

A class gift qualified by an age

A contingency with no time fixed

Survivorship at an unnamed period

The moment fixed

When the member attains the specified age

When the intermediate or precedent interest ceases

When the intermediate or precedent interest ceases

Effect if the moment passes

That member simply does not take

The interest fails

Those alive at that moment take; the others do not

Contrary intention

The terms may provide otherwise, and section 21's exception may apply

A time mentioned in the deed displaces the section

Expressly saved by the section

5. How They Fit the Wider Scheme

  1. They are rules of construction, not rules of invalidity. Each fills a gap the instrument has left, and section 23 alone produces a failure — and then only because the transferor made the interest depend on an event he never timed.
  2. They assume the interest is contingent. A vested interest needs no point of ascertainment; it already belongs to somebody.
  3. They sit under section 14. Fixing the moment of ascertainment at the end of the prior interest tends to keep vesting inside the perpetuity period, though section 14 must still be applied separately.
  4. The Succession Act contains counterparts for wills, and a limitation drafted for a deed and copied into a will must be tested under those provisions instead.

Retention aid

Twenty-two asks how old; twenty-three and twenty-four ask when. And for the last two the answer is the same: the moment the prior interest ends. The difference is the consequence — twenty-three destroys the late interest, twenty-four merely identifies the takers.

6. Related Topics and Provisions

  • Contingent Interest, Section 21 — the category all three sections assume
  • Vested Interest, Section 19 — and section 20 on vesting in an unborn person
  • Transfer to a Class, Section 15 — which limits failure within a class
  • Rule Against Perpetuity, Section 14 — which caps the age that may be specified under section 22
  • Vested and Contingent Interests, Sections 19 to 24 — the chapter scheme
  • Indian Succession Act, 1925 — the testamentary counterparts of these rules