P.K. Balasubramanyan, J.

The defendants in O.S.405 of 1988 on the file of the Subordinate Judge's Court of Thiruvananthapuram are the appellants in this appeal. O.S.405 of 1988 was filed by the plaintiff in the suit, the respondent in this appeal, for partition and delivery of one-half share in the plaint schedule property with profits. The defendants resisted the suit, denying the plaintiff's right to claim partition. The trial court overruled the defence contentions and passed a preliminary decree for partition. It awarded the plaintiff one-half share on the basis that he had equal right with defendant No.1 in the plaint schedule property. It is this decree that is challenged in this appeal.

2. The plaintiff married the first defendant on 26.4.1981. The second defendant in the suit is the mother of the first defendant. On 12.3.1981, about a month prior to the marriage, the second defendant, the mother, and DW.1, the father of defendant No. 1, executed a settlement deed, Ext. Al, settling the plaint schedule property on defendant No. 1, their daughter, and on the plaintiff, their would be son-in-law or the would be husband of the first defendant. In that document, it was