The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy pursued by the British East India Company, most extensively applied by Governor-General Lord Dalhousie from 1848 to 1856. Though articulated earlier by the Company's Court of Directors in 1834, Dalhousie formalized and aggressively implemented the concept to expand British territorial control. The policy was designed to solve the problem of consolidating the Company's power by systematically annexing princely states under British paramountcy.
The core mechanism dictated that any princely state whose ruler died without a natural-born male heir would automatically "lapse" or escheat to the Company's sovereignty. This directly challenged the traditional Hindu custom that allowed a ruler to adopt an heir to succeed to the throne. Under the Doctrine, an adopted son could inherit the ruler's personal property but was explicitly denied the right to the kingdom's rulership, titles, or pensions unless the adoption was sanctioned by the British authorities beforehand. States were also annexed on the pretext of "manifest incompetence" or misgovernance, as seen in the case of Awadh.
The policy is intrinsically connected to the Subsidiary Alliance system, as it targeted states already bound by treaties acknowledging British supremacy. Its aggressive application, which saw the annexation of states like Satara (1848), Sambalpur (1849), Jhansi (1853), and Nagpur (1854), caused widespread resentment among Indian elites. This disaffection was a major contributing factor to the Revolt of 1857. The policy was effectively abandoned following the revolt and the transfer of power to the British Crown under the Government of India Act 1858, with the Crown subsequently recognizing the right of Indian rulers to adopt heirs. No recent changes have occurred to the historical Doctrine of Lapse itself, as it was a colonial-era policy that ceased to be applied after 1858.