JUDGMENT

1. The judgment of the High Court (Prinsep and Beverley, JJ.) after stating the facts as above, proceeded as follows:

It becomes necessary, therefore, in dealing with this appeal, to determine the exact effect of a muta marriage under the Shiah law, and whether it can be dissolved in the manner stated by the plaintiff, and found by both the Courts. The word muta signifies "enjoyment," and as applied to a particular form of marriage indicates a marriage of a temporary character, "the extent of the period being left entirely to the parties who may prolong or shorten it to a year, a month, or a day; only some limit must be distinctly specified, so as to guard the period from any extension or diminution." (Baillie's Digest of Mahomedan Law, Part II, on the Imamia Code, page 42). In the Tagore Law Lectures, 1874, by Shama Charan Sircar, on the same subject, at page 373, Section 517, the law is expressed in the same terms, the Tahrir-ul-Ahkam being quoted as an authority.

2. There is apparently no limit to the number of wives married in this form. The Mahomedan law limits the number of permanently married wives to four, but it is stated on the authority of the Imam Jafer Sadik tha