1. Defendants 2, 3, 5 and 7 to 9 are the appellants and the plaintiff and defendants 1, 4 and 6 are the respondents. The suit was for partition. The first respondent, the plaintiff, claimed an one-third share in the plaint property. This property was gifted (the parties had treated Ext. P-1, the document in question, as a gift deed and we too proceed on that basis) in favour of one Lekshmi Amma, the mother of the first respondent, defendants 1 and 2 and a deceased brother of theirs, Kochunarayana Pillai, who died in 1117. Ext. P-1 is the gift deed and is dated 26th Edavam 1087. This gift deed was executed by two members of the Thannippilly Tarwad. The second defendant is the sister of the first respondent, the first defendant and the deceased Kochunarayana Pillai. Defendants 3 to 5 are the children of the second defendant and defendants 6 to 9 are the children of the fifth defendant.

2. The first respondent contended that the above gift deed enured to the benefit of the three sons and daughter, the second defendant, of Lekshmi Amma. Lekshmi Amma, the mother, and Kochunarayana Pillai having died before the Nayar Act of 1088 (Act I of 1088) came into force, it was urged th