Judgement

Appeal (No. 126 of 1922) from a decree of the High Court at Patna (March 21, 1919), varying a decree of the Subordinate Judge (Second Court) of Monghyr.

The suit was brought in 1910 by plaintiffs, now represented by the respondents, to recover possession from one Aguilar, now represented by the appellant, and tenants from him, of 709 bighas of alluvial land as part of mauza Mansi of which the first plaintiff was owner and the other plaintiffs tenants. Aguilar was the owner of mauza Rahimpur. The Gandak river, a tributary of the Ganges, had formed the southern boundary of Mansi and the northern boundary of Rahimpur. The defendant Aguilar by his written statement pleaded as follows " This defendant submits that the disputed land is to the south of the present bed of the flowing Gandak, and is either reformation of, or accretion to, mauza Rahimpur, or partly accretion and partly reformation, and justly, lawfully, and according to established usage and custom which have the force of law and the customary law of India from time immemorial, appertain to mauza Rahimpur, and have all along formed part and parcel of it and has been dealt with as such.”

The facts and the terms of s