The judgment emphasizes the importance of specific allegations and proof of the custom relied upon, and the need for evidence to establish the existence of any customary law.

1. The suit which has given rise to this appeal was brought by a Thenkasi Vellala woman for partition and recovery of one-fifth share in her deceased father's assets which she claimed she was entitled to get under the customary law governing her community, with an alternative prayer that in case it was found that she was not entitled to get a decree for partition she might be allowed to recover Rs. 25,000/- from her father's estate in the hands of her brothers in lieu of the streedhanam she was entitled to get from the father's estate under the customary law of the community, or allowed to recover immovable properties worth thus much of money from the properties left by her father. Defendants 1 and 2 are the brothers of the plaintiff, and defendants 3 & 4 her elder sisters. Defendant 5 is their mother. The suit was dismissed by the lower court which held that the Thenkasi Vellala community was governed by the Hindu Mitakshara Law and there was no customary law in the community as alleged by the plaintiff entitling the daughters to get a share in their father's properties or to get streedhanam from the father's assets as a matter of right. Plaintiff has, therefore, filed this appeal.

2. According to the tradition which is accepted by both sides, the Thenkasi Vellalas are a community which originally belonged to Thenkasi in the Tinnevelli District and emigrated from there to Travancore some centuries back and settled down principally in the Thodupuzha Taluk. Some of the witnesses examined in the case say there are only 300 families even in the Thodupuzha Taluk while others have given a higher estimate. The estimates given by other witnesses range from 500 to 800 families in the Thodupuzha Taluk. There are, admittedly, only a handful of families living in other parts of the State. It is also admitted by both sides that the Thenkasi Vellalas are followers of the Hindu religion, and in the description of the parties in the plaint the religion of the plaintiff & defendants 1 to 5 is given as Hindu religion. Perumal Pillai Sankara Pillai, the father of the plaintiff & defendants 1 to 4 & the husband of defendant 5, was a vakil practising in the courts in the Thodupuzha Taluk. He died in Kumbhom 1118 M.E. leaving considerable properties. About 7 years later, on 22-9-4950, the plaintiff brought the present suit in forma pauperis claiming that under the customary law governing the Thenkasi Vellalas, daughters were entitled to share equally with sons in the assets left by their father and that she was therefore entitled to get one-fifth of the assets left by Perumal Pillai Sankara Pillai, and praying for partition and recovery of the said share with past and future mesne profits after partition of the same by metes and bounds. The suit, as originally brought, was only for partition and recovery of possession of the above share, and it was stated in Para.7 of the original plaint that among the Thenkasi Vellalas daughters and sons have equal shares in their fathers assets and that the rule of law under the Hindu Mithakshara law under which daughters have no right to get any share in their father's assets is not applicable to their community. In October 1951 the plaintiff filed an amended plaint, after obtaining leave to do so, claiming an alternative relief for recovering from her father's estate in the hands of defendants 1 and 2 Rs. 25,000/-on account of streedhanam which she was entitled to get from the father's estate or for recovering properties worth thus much of money. The alternative relief was asked for on the ground that among the Thenkasi Vellalas in the Thodupuzha Taluk there was a long standing custom, which was being observed uninterruptedly, of giving even to married daughters some share in their father's assets under the name of streedhanam, or avakasam, etc., but plaintiff had not been given any streedhanam at the time of her marriage, and that on account of this custom which has obtained the force of law the pl