Lord Shaw -

This is an appeal raising the question of the validity of a Singhalese marriage. A petition was presented by the respondents in the District Court of Tangalla in Ceylon for letters of administration of the estate of one, who for short, may be called Don Andris de Silva. Don Andris died on the 1st September 1921. The application was made, upon the 14th December of that year, by Singho Appu, the son-in-law of the deceased Don Andris. Don Andris died intestate.

The family history of Don Andris was that he had been regularly married in 1885, having as issue the daughter who, through her husband Singho Appu, now claims his whole estate. This first wife died in May 1900.

Then in 1901, and for a course of twenty years until 1921, when Don Andris died, the proved family history was as follows :

He married one Balahamy, with the procession, the giving of gifts and other ceremonials familiar to the law of Ceylon. There was, however, one omission namely, that the marriage was not registered, and in that sense the marriage was irregular. But registration, however important, was not by law essential. Don Andris and she lived together as apparently man and wife for these twenty years. D