Lord Russell of Killowen.-

This appeal is brought by the defendants to an action which was tried by Burton, J., at Ipoh in the State of Perak. The action was dismissed; but an appeal by the plaintiffs to the Court of Appeal of the Federated Malay States was allowed, and an order was made by that Court, which is set out hereafter, and from which the defendants have appealed to His Majesty in Council. For the proper appreciation of the cause of action which the plaintiffs seek to enforce, and of the methods and procedure which they adopted for that purpose, and of the relationship of the parties, it is necessary to embark upon considerable detail.

Tuan Kundor was a Rajah of Raman, in the kingdom of Siam, who died in the year 1867. He was the owner of a tin mine at Khan Hitam in Siam. He had nine children, five sons and four daughters, all of whom, according to one witness, survived him. His eldest son was Tuan Timoon, who became Rajah and entered into possession of the mine on his father's death. On the death of Tuan Timoon, in the year 1875, he was succeeded as Rajah by his brother, Tuan Jagong, who also took possession of the mine and kept it until his death in 1901. Tuan Timoon had