Sir John Wallis—

The parties in the case belong to a Brahmin family of good standing who carried on a money-lending business in the District of Cuttack in Orissa and acquired moveable and immovable property valued at two lakhs of rupees. The defendants are the sons and grandsons of Narsingh, who belonged to the senior branch of the family and died in 1914, and the plaintiff, Fakira, is the widow of Abhimanyu, the posthumous son of Kulamoni, who belonged to the junior branch. According to the defendants Kulamoni before his death in 1877 adopted Narsingh's second son Udaya, and similarly in 1903 Kulamoni's son Abhimanyu twelve years before his death in 1915, adopted Udaya's eldest son Padmalav, defendant 1.

In June 1924, nine years after her husband's death, the plaintiff, Fakira, filed the present suit in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Cuttack to recover her husband's share in the suit properties. She alleged that before her husband's death Narsingh's son, Udaya, had set up a false case that he had been adopted by Kulamoni and that for the sake of peace and to avoid litigation, it had been settled that he should have a one-fourth share of the properties which would otherwise ha