Lord Buckmaster:-

The question raised in this appeal is as to the rights of certain mortgagees under and in respect of a mortgage which was dated the 4th of September, 1894. That mortgage was executed by one Raja Sheoraj Singh, the manager of certain joint property held by himself and his brother, Maharaj Singh, and governed by the Mitakshara law. The mortgage was for the sum of 3,000 rupees, with interest at the rate of 1 rupee 2 annas per cent. per month, with compound interest and half-yearly rests. The mortgage affects three villages, and on the face of it there is a recital that the money was lent in order that the mortgagor might pay the Government revenue. The original mortgagee is dead, and his representatives instituted the proceedings out of which this appeal has arisen for the purpose of enforcing their rights under the mortgage deed. A considerable number of defences were raised by the different parties who were made defendants to those proceedings, but for the purpose of the present appeal only one of those defences needs consideration. That defence is this: that the property that was mortgaged being joint property, a mortgage could only be operative to the extent to w