Judgement

Consolidated Appeals (Nos. 29, 30, 31 of 1928) from three decrees of the Chief Court of Oudh (November 20, 1928) affirming two decrees and reversing one decree of the Subordinate Judge of Gonda.

A village in Oudh, called Cookenagar, was divided into blocks by its proprietors and the blocks offered for sale at fixed prices. The appellant acquired one block by a sale deed executed and registered on June 9, 1924. He brought three suits against the respondents, claiming that under the Oudh Laws Act, 1876, s. 9, he had the right to pre-empt other blocks which had been purchased by the respondents respectively ; he pleaded that he had not been given notice of the sales as required by s. 10 of the Act.

The facts appear from the judgment of the Judicial Committee.

The Subordinate Judge dismissed two of the suits on the ground that the sales to the defendants therein were made before June 9, 1924, the date when the sale to the plaintiff was completed and registered, and that consequently the plaintiff was not entitled to notice of them; he decreed the third suit, finding that the sale there was after that date.

Upon appeals to the High Court it was held that the suits could not be