Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, C.J.

1. In this appeal the Court is called upon to decide whether the second respondent is the adopted son of one G. Srinivasa Aiyangar, who died on the 27th February, 1937. The suit was brought by the appellant as the nearest reversioner to the deceaseds estate for a declaration that the second respondent had no interest therein, in other words that he had not been adopted to Srinivasa Aiyangar. The Subordinate Judge held that during the life time of Srinivasa Aiyangar the natural father of the second respondent had agreed to give his son to him in adoption and that Srinivasa Aiyangar took the boy with that intention. Therefore the condition imposed by Hindu law that there should be a giving and a taking had been fulfilled during the life time of the adoptive father. It is common ground that the datta homan ceremony was performed by Srinivasa Aiyangars widow, the first respondent, on the 10th March, 1937, that is twelve days, after the death of her husband. In these circumstances the Subordinate Judge considered that the second respondent had been lawfully adopted to Srinivasa Aiyangar. He also held that the deceased had given his widow oral autho