Sir Lawrence Jenkins:—

The plaintiffs and Mammad, the first defendant, who has died since the institution of this suit, were descendants from a common stock. It is the plaintiffs' case that they were members of an undivided Mopla Tarwad governed by Marumakkaththayam law, and that the Tarwad possessed considerable properties, including those in the suit. Mammad, it is alleged, was the senior and Karnavan of the whole Tarwad, and it is charged that he dealt with Tarwad property in fraud of the plaintiffs, and improperly alienated portions of it to Sulaiman the second defendant.

The plaintiffs accordingly pray by their plaint that the first defendant be deposed from the management of the plaint properties, or in the alternative that the plaintiffs' right thereto be declared free of any encumbrance made by the first defendant. They further seek a declaration that the alienations in favour of the second defendant specified in the plaint are invalid and not binding against the plaintiffs.

By way of defence it is denied that the plaintiffs and first defendant were members of an undivided Mopla Tarwad, or that the first defendant was the senior and Karnavan of the whole Tarwad. On the contrar