Judgement

The object of this suit was to establish the title of the Respondent to succeed to an impartible zemindary, called Urkadu, as the heir of the Appellants late Husband, Zemindar Kottalinga Sethurayar.

The Respondent claimed to be heir, as the Son eldest in age of the Zemindars Sons, and also as being the Son of the second Wife. The Appellant insisted, that she was the second Wife, and that the Respondents Mother was the third Wife of the Zemindar, and that her Son, as being the Son of the senior sur-[@ page M.I.A. 571]viving Wife, though born after the Son of the third Wife, was entitled to succeed to the zemindary, in preference to the Respondent.

Kottalinga Sethurayar was a Zemindar Polygar in the Zillah of Tinnevelly, Madras. He belonged to the caste called Maravars, among whom polygamy prevails.

Both sides admitted first, that the Sons of the first or royal Wife succeeded to the zemindary in priority to Sons of any other Wife, and without reference to the age of her Sons, and secondly, the fact, that the first Wife had died without issue.

The facts were these—

Kottalinga Sethurayar married three Wives Kanthimathiammal, the first or royal Wife, died in his lifetime, with