The suit out of which this appeal arises related to the properties of one Krishnaswami Iyengar, who died leaving a daughter Kanagathammal. Kanagathammal married Doraiswami Iyengar. There was no issue of the marriage and the 1st defendant claimed to be her adopted son, he having been adopted by her husband Doraiswami Iyengar in 1920. The plaintiff, claiming to be the reversioner of Krishnaswami Iyengar, sought to recover the properties and contested the factum and validity of the adoption of the 1st defendant. That the adoption did take place both the Courts have found to be true and the validity of the adoption alone is sought to be attacked in this appeal. The invalidity is based on the rule of prohibition that no one can be adopted whose mother in her maiden state the adopter could not have legally married, the contention being that the 1st defendant’s natural mother Rukmani Ammal was within the prohibited degrees of marriage, as Rukmani Ammal was Doraisami Iyengar’s paternal grandmother’s sister’s son’s daughter. The parties being Brahmins the rule that a legal marriage should be possible between the adoptive father and the natural mother applied to the present case.

Aft