There are three branches in a Malayala Brahmin illom, the plaintiffs being members of one branch, defendants 1 to 5 belonging to the second branch and the sixth defendant being a member of the third branch. The suit out of which this Second Appeal arises, was instituted by the plaintiffs, for an allotment for their maintenance, claiming 13/22 of the illom properties. Defendants 1 to 5 had filed O.S. 3 of 1107 for maintenance of the members of their branch and obtained a decree Ext. V, in pursuance of which, items 1 and 9 or portions thereof were allotted to them. The sixth defendant has similarly sued for maintenance and obtained a decree in O.S. 1051 of 1108, though that decree had not been executed. In the present suit, defendants 1 to 5 set up Ext. V decree as a bar and pleaded, that the arrangement for maintenance under that decree could not be altered. The two Courts have over-ruled this contention and granted a preliminary decree for effecting an allotment of maintenance for the plaintiffs”, on a proper division of the illom properties by the issue of a commission.

2. In this Second Appeal by defendants 1 to 5, the contention has been repeated by their learned counse