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The doctrine of Lapse was introduced by……………….

This was introduced mainly to extend the British Empire. According to the Doctrine of lapse, if a ruler of a dependent state in India died and did not have a male successor, his adopted son would not be his true successor. In this case, the state would pass back to the British. The adopted son would be the heir only of the inherited personal property of the deceased ruler. This was greatly opposed by the Indians and was one of the major causes of sepoy mutiny in 1857. On this basis, British had annexed states of Jaipur, Satara, Sambhalpur, Udaipur, Jhansi and Nagpur.