Review of the Legal Bases of the Maternal Relatives' Deprivation of Blood Money Inheritance

Is blood money like other property regarding inheritance right or a different system governs it? There are controversial views among the jurists regarding this matter and the Iranian Criminal Legislator has been affected by the different views in the different periods after the Islamic Revolution of Iran. The Iranian Legislator has accepted for the first time, under the note to the Article 452 of the Islamic Penal code (1392), the opinions of the jurists that hold that the maternal relatives as a whole are deprived of the right to inherit the blood money (despite other property). Nonetheless, the absolute and detailed interpretation of the said note faces some juridical and legal problems, Because according to other reliable legal views, the deprivation of maternal relatives requires that they accompany their paternal relatives. In addition, according to other strong views, maternal relatives are not deprived of the right to inherit the blood money in the cases when the blood money replaces retaliation. This view, apparently, can be generalized to the note to the Article 551 of the New Islamic Penal Code (regarding the excess of the blood money of the woman that can be paid by the state personal injury fund). The present text tries to review and criticize the different legal approaches to the blood money inheritance right and to make clear the real path of the note to the Article 452 of this rule through presenting a critical and analytical method.