When certain course of conduct is followed continuously for a long time in a particular family or in a particular class of persons or in a particular locality, it obtains the force of law.
The Judicial Committee explained custom in the following way: ‘Custom is a rule which in a particular family or in a particular district has from long usage obtained the force of law. It must be ancient, certain and reasonable and being in the derogation of general rule of law, must be construed strictly.
Image Source: 185.26.182.219
Kinds of Custom:
Under Hindu law customs may be classified in three categories:
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(1) Local customs,
(2) Class customs, and
(3) Family customs.
(1) Local Customs:
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Local customs denote certain practices and usages which are binding on the Hindu inhabitants of a particular locality which may be whole country or a state, or a district, town or even a village.
It was laid down by Privy Council in Mst. Subhani v. Nazuab that it is undoubted that a custom observed in a particular district derives its force from the fact that it has from long been a usage in that district and obtained the force of law. It must be ancient, but it is not of the essence of this rule that its antiquity must in every case be carried back to a period beyond the memory of man—still less that it is ancient in the English technical sense.
What is necessary to be proved is that the usage has been acted upon in practice for such a long period and with such invariability as to show that it has, by common consent, been submitted to the established governing rule of the particular district. Later on this decision was followed by the Supreme Court in Gokal Chandra’s case.
(2) Class Customs:
The term ‘class custom’ denotes certain practices and usages of a caste or of sector of the followers of a particular profession or occupation.
(3) Family Customs:
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Where certain practices and usages are established by long user in a particular family, they are termed as family customs. Such customs may relate to modes of marriage ceremonies, Jethansi, succession, impartible estate, Maths and religious foundations.