Leach, C.J.

1. The father of the plaintiff in the suits out of which these appeals arise insured his life under the following policies:

--------------------------------------------------------- Date. Company. Amount. Rs. --------------------------------------------------------- 5-11-1934 Tropical Insurance Co., Ltd. 9,000 10-5-1935 Metropolitan Insurance Co, 10,000 Ltd. 13-6-1935 Lakshmi Insurance Co. Ltd. 10,000 25-10-1935 Hindustan Co-operative Insur- 10,000 ance Society Ltd. 21-11-1935 Lakshmi Insurance Co. Ltd. 10,000 9-3-1936 Venus Assurance Co. Ltd. 10,000 19-5-1936 New India Life Assurance Co. 10,000 Ltd. 11-8-1936 Metropolitan Insurance Co. 5,000 Ltd. ---------------------------------------------------------

The assured died on 18th January 1937. All the insurance companies repudiated their liability on the ground that there had been material misrepresentation on the part of the assured and the plaintiff challenged their action in suits filed by him in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Devakottai. The defence in each ease was that in the proposal form the assured had falsely stated that he had never before made a proposal for life insurance, that he had understate