Doctrine of Lapse

The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy used by the East India Company in India. It treated princely states without an accepted male heir as lapsed to Company rule, rejecting adopted heirs in specified cases.

Paramountcy: A system in which a dominant power claims authority over subordinate states while allowing them varying degrees of internal rule. The Company used its claimed supremacy over princely states to enforce its decisions about succession.
East India Company: An English joint-stock company that acquired territorial power in India and ruled large areas before the British Crown took control in 1858. The Company used the policy as an instrument of territorial expansion.
Indian Rebellion of 1857: A widespread uprising against East India Company rule in northern and central India during 1857–1858. Annexations and succession disputes under the policy fed resentment before the uprising.
Adoption: The legal and social creation of a parent-child relationship between people who are not biologically related. Adopted sons could inherit under Indian practices, while the Company sometimes denied their political succession.
Hindu law of adoption: A body of religious and legal rules governing adoption in Hindu communities, including the inheritance rights of adopted sons. The Company’s refusal to recognize some adopted heirs conflicted with established Hindu succession practices.
James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie: A British colonial administrator who served as Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. Dalhousie applied the policy to several states and became closely associated with it.
Rani of Jhansi: Lakshmibai, the queen of Jhansi who led forces against the East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. She resisted Company rule after it annexed Jhansi and rejected her adopted son’s claim.
Annexation: The incorporation of a territory into the political jurisdiction of another state. The doctrine was one specific rationale for annexing princely territories.
Princely state: A territory in the Indian subcontinent ruled by a local monarch under British paramountcy during the colonial era. These states were the territories whose succession disputes could trigger annexation.
Lapse: The reversion of a property or political title to a superior authority when specified conditions of succession are unmet. The policy adapted the legal idea of reversion to the Company’s claims over princely territories.

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