Decree in favour of a dead person is neither nullity, nor illegal but is only voidable - Decree binds the parties and continues to exist in law unless got rid of as per law.

A. Civil Procedure Code, Order 22 Rules 3, 4 and 11 - Decree in favour of dead person - Decree is not illegal and also not nullity but it is voidable decree - Further held :-

(i) Decree passed against a dead person is generally treated as nullity (though not invariably in all cases), but decree passed in favour of dead person is only an irregularity and not illegality.

(ii) The decree binds the parties and continues to exist in law unless got rid of as per law. AIR 1979 SC 1393, relied.

[Paras 44, 35 and 38]

B. Evidence Act, 1872 Sections 115 and 116 Estoppel and election - Distinction - Doctrine of election, estoppel and waiver share a common foundation in a simple instinct of fairness, and in particular the perception that as between two parties to a transaction of a legal relationship, it is or may be unfair for one party to adopt inconsistent positions in his dealings with the other - Election though the subject of much learning and refinement, is in the end a doctrine based on simple consideration