Lord Atkinson:—

This is an appeal from a judgment and decree of the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces, dated the 30th July 1912, which reversed a judgment and decree of the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Aligarh, dated the 13th June 1911.

The action out of which the appeal has arisen was instituted by the respondent against the appellant for restitution of conjugal rights.

The main questions for determination

(1) Whether the appellant and respondent were legally married according to the Mahomedan law at Mecca on the 20th July 1907.

(2) Whether the appellant did in fact give her consent to this marriage.

(3) Whether the appellant was at the time of the marriage adult and competent to give her consent thereto.

The Subordinate Judge who tried the case and the High Court have each found as a fact that a marriage ceremony, purporting to be a ceremony between the appellant and respondent, was solemnised at Mecca on the 20th July 1907. For the purposes of this appeal, that fact must be taken as incontrovertibly established.

It is, therefore, now quite irrelevant to consider whether the marriage was an imprudent or a desirable one. And, with one qualification, it is equal