JUDGMENT

Mookerjee, Actg., C. J.

1. This is an appeal by the plaintiffs in a suit for establishment of their right to irrigate their crops with the water of the disputed tank, which is situated on the land of the defendants.

2. The Court of first instance decreed the suit. Upon appeal that decree has been set aside by the District Judge.

3. It appears that in a previous litigation the plaintiffs asserted a right of ownership to the disputed tank, but the claim was dismissed as unfounded. The Courts on that occasion made an observation that although the ownership of the tank was not established, still it was clear that the plaintiffs had enjoyed the right to take water there from for the purposes of irrigation. In the present case, the plaintiffs seek to establish their right to take water for the purposes of irrigation. The defendants contend, and this contention has been accepted as well founded by the District Judge, that inasmuch as the plaintiffs, in the previous suit, asserted ownership, their possession could not be treated in law as equivalent to the possession necessary for the purposes of acquisition of a prescriptive right of easement. No authority is sited by the District Ju