Lord Sumner :-

Their Lordships do not desire to hear the respond ents. The point arising for deci sion on this appeal is a short one. In the group of suits, which the appellants brought in India, the question which, for the purposes of to-day, was the material one to be considered was this :- At what date is the under-tenure, of which they had become purchasers at a sale under a decree for rent, to be taken to have originated ?

It was in connection with a prayer to have encumbrances cleared off that this question arose, and according to the date fixed, earlier or later, they would be able to clear off more encumbrances or fewer.

Now to ascertain the date, at which a particular holding first began to be held as a definite hold ing, is essentially a question of fact, and must depend on evidence. That evidence may be, and naturally is, documentary, but the documents admitted in evidence upon that question are really historical materials, and although they have to be construed, and if possible understood, they are not to be treated as involving issues of law merely because they have to be construed. It is not as though they were being construed as instruments of title, or were con tracts