Transfer of Property Act Section 48 — Priority of rights created by transfer

Summary

If the same piece of land is transferred to different people at different times, and those rights clash so that they cannot all be fully enjoyed at once, then the earlier transfer wins. The later transfer is subject to the earlier one, unless the earlier people agreed to something different in a contract or reservation.

Official Text

Where a person purports to create by transfer at different times rights in or over the same immoveable property, and such rights cannot all exist or be exercised to their full extent together, each later created right shall, in the absence of a special contract or reservation binding the earlier transferees, be subject to the rights previously created.

Related Judgments

• ICICI BANK LTD. vs SIDCO LEATHERS LTD. AND ORS — Supreme Court of India (2006)
• DATTATRAYA SHANKER MOTE & ORS. vs ANAND CHINTAMAN DATAR & ORS — Supreme Court of India (1974)
• CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA vs STATE OF KERALA AND ORS — Supreme Court of India (2009)
• THE COSMOS CO. OPERATIVE BANK LTD. vs CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA & ORS — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• R.M. ARUNACHALAM ETC. vs COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, MADRAS — Supreme Court of India (1997)