Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, C.J.

1. This case is unparalleled and it raises an important question of law. The appellant was married to the respondent on the 9th June, 1933, at All Souls Church, Coimbatore. The appellant had been previously married, but he had not heard of his first wife for over seven years and consequently presumed her to be dead. The appeal arises out of a petition filed by the respondent on the Original Side of this Court under the Indian Divorce Act for a declaration that her marriage with the appellant was null and void because his first wife was still alive. She failed to prove this fact, but maintained that she was entitled to rely on the presumption stated in Section 107 of the. Indian Evidence Act, which says that when the question is whether a person is alive or dead, and it is shown that the person was alive within 30 years, the burden of proving the person to be dead is on him who affirms it. In other words, she maintained that all she had to prove was that the appellants first wife was alive within 30 years of the petition and if the appellant failed to prove affirmatively that his first wife was dead on the 9th June, 1933, she was entitled to th