1. This appeal is directed against the preliminary decree passed by the lower court in O.S. No. 247 of 1122 on its file. It is a suit for partition of the plaint properties which are claimed to be the assets left by one Velayudhan Kesavan at the time of his death which was subsequent to the coming into force of the Travancore Ezhava Act (Act III of 1100). He had two wives of whom the first died prior to the institution of the present suit. The children born to her by Velayudhan Kesavan are defendants 1 to 3. The second wife is the 8th plaintiff and the children born to her by Velayudhan Kesavan are plaintiffs 1 to 7. Defendants 4 to 35 are the seshakkars of the said Kesavan. It is agreed on all hands that Velayudhan Kesavan was a misradayi Ezahva and that he had got himself exempted from the operation of the provisions of Part IV of the Ezhava Act. The result was that in the matter of intestate succession he was governed by the misradayam or mixed system of inheritance which was in force at the time of passing of the Ezhava Act. Under that system one-half of the assets left by a misradayi Ezhava would devolve on his wife and children, while the other half would devolve