This is an appeal under the Letters Patent against the judgment of Subba Rao, J., in C.M.P. No. 13519 of 1950. That petition was filed in the following circumstances. Krishna Vijaya Poochaya Naicker, Zamindar of Marungapuri, an impartible estate situated in Tiruchirapalli district, died on 17th September, 1926, leaving behind him three widows, Lakshmi Ammani, Ponnalagu Ammani and Muthulagu Ammani. As one of the incidents of impartible estates in Southern India is that the estate is descendible to a single heir, the seniormost of the three widows would be first entitled to succeed. The Government, on the assumption that Lakshmi Ammani was the seniormost of the widows, proceeded to exercise powers conferred on them by the Madras Court of Wards Act. On nth July, 1927, the following notification was published in the Fort St. George Gazette and in the Tiruchirapalli District Gazette:

"Under section 15 of the Madras Court of Wards Act, 1902, His Excellency the Governor in Council declares Lakshmi Ammani Ammal, the proprietrix of the Marungapuri estate in the Kulitalai taluk of the Tiruchirapalli District to be incapable of managing her property and dire