The question referred to the Full Bench is as follows:

"Is an order made under section 10, Civil procedure Code or any other provision of law for the stay of trial of a suit a "judgment" within the meaning of that term in clause 15 of the Letters Patent?" The scope of the reference is therefore restricted and circumscribed in character and we are relieved of the task of attempting to define the term "judgment" in clause 15 of the Letters Patent in all its aspects. An exhaustive definition of that word has not been successfully laid down in any decision in India during the last nearly a century though Hidayatullah, J., in Manohar v. Baliram1, has brought out a definition containing the essential ingredients of a ‘judgment’ derivable from various decisions.

Clause 15 of the Letters Patent with which we are now concerned is dated 28th December, 1865 and has undergone a few amendments which are unnecessary for consideration in the present context. Prior to that, there was an earlier Letters Patent dated 14th May, 1862 which by clauses 14 and 15 provided that the High Court should have appellate jurisdiction which was till then exercised by the Sudder Adawlut. I