Editing Doctrine of lapse (section)

{{short description|Policy of the East India Company regarding princely states}}

{{Use Indian English|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Princely States topics}}

The '''doctrine of lapse''' was a policy of [[annexation]] initiated by the [[East India Company]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]] for the [[princely state]]s, and applied until the year 1858, the year after [[Company rule in India|Company rule]] was succeeded by the [[British Raj]] under the [[British Crown]]. 

The policy is associated with [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie]].

Elements of the doctrine of lapse continued to be applied by the post-independence [[Government of India|Indian government]] to derecognise individual princely families until 1971, when the recognition of former ruling families was discontinued under the 25th amendment to the Indian constitution by the [[Indira Gandhi]] government.