Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, C.J.

1. This appeal raises the important question whether a son adopted to a deceased coparcener is entitled to reopen a partition of family property effected by the surviving coparceners before the adoption took place.

2. One K. Ramaswami Pillai had four sons, two of whom survived him. They are the 1st and 2nd defendants in this suit. The other two sons were K. R. Karuppanna Pillai, the deceased husband of the 6th defendant, and K. R. Ramaswami Pillai, the deceased husband of Chellathayi, the adoptive mother of the plaintiff, who is a minor. The father and his sons were joint in estate. Both Karuppanna and Ramaswami died without issue in 1924. The father died in 1929 and in 1936 the 1st and 2nd defendants partitioned the family estate between themselves. Admittedly each is still in possession of a moiety of the estate. On the 25th January, 1937, Chellathayi adopted the plaintiff and a week later Karuppannas widow adopted the 3rd defendant.

3. The suit out of which this appeal arises was filed by the adopted son of Ramaswami, suing through his mother as his next friend, He claimed to be entitled to recover one-fourth of the family estate. The 1st and