Section 306 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 is a statutory provision that addresses the survival of demands and rights of action after a person's death. The concept is rooted in the archaic common law maxim, actio personalis moritur cum persona, which means a personal right of action dies with the person, a principle formulated in England in 1459. The provision was consolidated into the Indian Succession Act, 1925, to limit this maxim and define which legal claims pass to the deceased's estate, also relating to the earlier Fatal Accidents Act, 1855.
The mechanism of Section 306 dictates that all rights to prosecute or defend any action existing at the time of death survive to and against the deceased's executors or administrators. However, it carves out specific exceptions where the cause of action does not survive: these include claims for defamation, assault (as defined in the Indian Penal Code, 1860), or other personal injuries not causing the death of the party. It also excludes cases where the relief sought could not be enjoyed or granting it would be nugatory after the party's death, such as a suit for divorce.
While the central provision has not been amended, it has been flagged by courts as archaic and in need of reform. The State of Karnataka amended it through the Indian Succession (Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2014, to allow legal representatives to recover pecuniary damages for pain and suffering. Furthermore, the Supreme Court recently clarified that claims involving pecuniary loss survive against the deceased's estate, even in tortious claims like medical negligence, while purely personal claims abate. This interpretation limits the exception relating to "personal injuries" and connects the provision to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.