1. Automobile accidents on account of negligent driving are escalating in the Kerala State so steeply, with attendant loss of life and limb, that the law, being charged with realism and humanism, has to operate effectively and disenchant those who tempt courts with ersatz contentions out of touch with the facts of life. The present suit was one for damages, the cause of action set out being that the plaintiff's child, 5 years old, was hit by a car (KLE. 246) driven by the 2nd defendant and belonging to the 1 st defendant, on the Edacochi-Aroor road at a spot where there are shops, residential houses and heavy vehicular traffic. Admittedly, on 20th January, 1962, at about 1p.m. the plaintiff's child was knocked down by this car and sustained multiple injuries, after having been thrown forward by several feet. Later he succumbed to the injuries., notwithstanding the medical aid given from a neighbouring hospital. The trial judge moralised, with a motorist's slant, that the negligence, if any, was that of the child's irresponsible parents and not of the car driver. His judgment dismissing the suit was assailed in appeal and the learned District Judge held that, on the fact