1. I have had the benefit of reading the judgment of Isaac, J. I agree with the conclusion reached in that judgment. But I regret I am unable to agree with the view that there is no customary law in the matter of inheritance applicable to the Valan Community. In Thommen v. Konnunni (1955 KLT. 564) it was decided that a daughter is not an heir and in Kuttan v. Neelakandan (1966 KLT. 790) it was ruled that in the Valan Community Marumakkathayee heirs do not exclude the Makkathayee heirs and that the Valans follow the Makkathayam system of inheritance. Both these decisions proceed on the basis that in the matter of inheritance the Valan Community has a customary law and the Hindu Law is not applicable. Reliance has been placed on the History of Kerala by Mr. Padmanabha Menon, the Cochin State Manual by Achutha Menon, the Cochin Tribes and Castes by Ananthakrishna Iyer, Castes and Tribes of Southern India by Edgar Thurston and the Travancore State Manual by Velu Pillai and other publications. These are not of course treatises on law. But they do give, to the extent to which they go, the practises and customs followed by the castes and tribes dealt with therein and thus affo