Lord Thankerton.:-

The dispute in the present appeal relates to the ownership of certain plots of land which lie on the boundary of, or between, the estates owned by the parties in the Kheri district of Oudh. The suit was instituted on 23rd January 1933, by the Deputy Commissioner of Kheri as Manager of the Court of Wards Isanagar Estate in the Court of the Additional Subordinate Judge of Kheri against the present appellant, the Maharaja of Kapurthala. The plaintiff prayed for a declaratory decree that he was the rightful proprietor of the lands in suit. After trial, the Subordinate Judge delivered his judgment and dismissed the suit, except in respect of certain small areas of land not contested by the defendant, by decree dated 22nd December 1933. The plaintiff appealed to the Chief Court, and, while the appeal was pending, the Isanagar Estate was released from the superintendence of the Court of Wards, and the present respondent, the Raja of Isanagar, was substituted as appellant in the Chief Court in place of the original plaintiff. By decree dated 7th May 1936, the Chief Court set aside the decree of the Additional Subordinate Judge and decreed the suit. The present appellant appeals from the decree of the Chief Court.

The lands in suit are claimed by the respondent to form part of his villages of Debipurwa and Harisinghpur, while the appellant claims that, with the exception of the areas not contested by him, the lands in suit form part of his villages of Parsa and Binjaha, which lie on the east side of the respondent's villages. The two lists attached to the plaint set out the plots in suit list "A" consisting of 53 plots measuring 42.97 acres, claimed to form part of Debipurwa, and list "B" consisting of 193 plots measuring 247.63 acres claimed to form part of Harsinghpur. The plots in suit are shewn in red on two maps also attached to the plaint and marked "C" and "D". The total acreage in suit is thus 290.60aeres, out of which the appellant conceded that eleven small plots and portions of other plots were owned by the respondent. These concessions are shewn in two lists for each of the respondent's two villages, and the total area thus conceded is about 73 bighas out of the 464 bigbas in suit, the equivalent of the 290.60 acres already mentioned ; in other words, between one-sixth and one-seventh of the area of the lands in suit admittedly belong to the respondent.

There are four important stages in the history of the lands in suit, as to the facts of which there is little dispute between the parties. The first stage relates to the first regular settlement of Kheri District which was made in the year 1865, and was in fact concluded in 1867. There were then disputes between the respondent's predecessor, and Colonel Boileau, the then proprietor of Parsa and Binjaha, and predecessor of the appellant. These disputes were compromised, and the demarcation of the boundary was made upon the agreement of the two adjacent proprietors. It was held by both Courts below, and is agreed by the parties that by the first settlement the title of the parties' predecessors was determined, and that the boundary then demarcated established the title of the respondent's predecessor to the lands now in suit and is the boundary as now claimed by the respondent in his plaint.

The second stage relates to the second settlement of the Kheri District, which took place during the years 1896-1899. By this time the Maharaja of Kapurthala had succeeded Colonel Boileau, and disputes arose between him and the Raja of Isanagar as to the demarcation of the boundary, and two proceedings were commenced in the Court of the Deputy Collector of Kheri, one in respect of the boundary between Parsa and Debipurwa and the other in respect of the boundary between Parsa and Harisinghpur. After a report from the Amin of the Court, Mr. Habibullah, the then Deputy Collector of Kheri, by a judgment in each proceeding, dated 8th September 1899, demarcated the boundaries on a