Introduction

A person who stands in the place of and represents the interests of another is called a legal representative. The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) deal with the concept of legal representative.

Section 2(11) of CPC

• This Section defines legal representative.
• It states that legal representative means a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased person and includes any person who intermeddles with the estate of the deceased and where a party sues or is sued in a representative character, the person on whom the estate devolves on the death of the party so suing or sued.
• The expression legal representative is very wide and inclusive in character.

Persons Falling under the Purview of Legal Representatives

• The following persons are held to be legal representatives:
  • Executors
  • Administrators
  • Reversioners
  • Hindu Coparceners
  • Residuary legatees
• The following persons are not considered as legal representatives:
  • Trespasser
  • Trustee
  • Official Assignee
  • Receiver

Section 50 of CPC

• Section 50 of CPC defines the representative which can be enforceable against for the execution of the decree in a suit in the case of the deceased judgment holder.
• This Section states that -

(1) Where a judgment-debtor dies before the decree has been fully satisfied, the holder of the decree may apply to the Court which passed it to execute the same against the legal representative of the deceased.

(2) Where the decree is executed against such legal representative, he shall be liable only to the extent of the property of the deceased which has come to his hands and has not been duly disposed of; and, for the purpose of ascertaining such liability, the Court executing the decree may, of its own motion or on the application of the decree-holder, compel such legal representative to produce such accounts as it thinks fit.

Section 52 of CPC

• This Section deals with the enforcement of decrees against legal representatives. It states that -

(1) Where a decree is passed against a party as the legal representative of a deceased person, and the decree is for the payment of money out of the property of the deceased, it may be executed by the attachment and sale of any such property.

(2) Where no such property remains in the possession of the judgment-debtor and he fails to satisfy the Court that he has duly applied such property of the deceased as is proved to have come into his possession, the decree may be executed against the judgment-debtor to the extent of the property in respect of which he has failed so to satisfy the Court in the same manner as if the decree had been against him personally.

Case Laws

• In the case of Custodian of Branches of BANCO National Ultramarino v. Nalini Bai Naique (1989), the Supreme Court held that the definition contained in Section 2(11) of CPC is inclusive in character and its scope is wide, it is not legally limited to legal heirs only. Instead, it stipulates that a person, who may or may not be legally heir competent to inherit the deceased’s property, can represent the estate of the deceased person.
• In the case of Andhra Bank Ltd v. R. Srinivasan & Ors. (1962), the Supreme Court held that the legal representative is a person representing the estate of the deceased in law, that the estate does not mean the entire estate, and that even a legatee who obtains only part of the estate of the deceased under a will can be said to represent the estate of the deceased and is, therefore, a legal representative under Section 2 (11) of CPC.