Judgement

Appeal (No. 67 of 1947) from a judgment and decree of the High Court (June 15 and August 28, 1945) which affirmed, subject to two modifications, a judgment and decree of the Subordinate Judge, Rangpur (July 21, 1943).

The following facts and statutory provisions are taken from the judgment of the Judicial Committee. This appeal raised certain questions as to the true construction of the Bengal Money Lenders Act, 1940 (Bengal Act X. of 1940) (hereinafter referred to as the " Act "). It was necessary to state the history of the case in some detail, in order to show how those questions arose, and it would be convenient to refer to respondents Nos. 1 to 7 and their predecessors in interest as " the mortgagors " and to respondent No. 8 as " the bank." On February 10, 1927, the mortgagors borrowed Rs. 1,20,000 from the bank and executed a mortgage of the Tushbandar Estate to secure that sum, with compound interest thereon at the rate of eight and a quarter per cent, per annum, with half-yearly rests. The loan was repayable on December 31, 1927, but was never in fact repaid. On September 15, 1930, the bank borrowed Rs. 50,000 from Rai Bahadur Tarit Bhusan Roy (hereafter called "