JUDGMENT :- This Second Appeal raises the question of the interpretation of the provision for legitimacy of the children of void and voidable marriages contained in Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 (hereinafter called the Act). The prior facts necessary for a consideration of this Second appeal are briefly the following.

2. One Periaswami died in 1956 possessed of some properties. He had a wife Gowri Ammal, the 1st defendant, and Anandam, a minor son aged 5 years by the 1st defendant, who is the 2nd defendant. It is alleged that Periaswami married a second wife, Kannu Ammal, the 1st plaintiff. This marriage took place after the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 (Central Act XXV of 1955) came into force. The 2nd plaintiff is the daughter of the 1st plaintiff, and was aged four months at the time when the suit was filed. The 1st and the 2nd plaintiffs claimed in the suit, out of which this Second appeal has arisen, partition and separate possession of one half share in the properties of the deceased Pariaswami. The defendants denied the factum of the marriage of the 1st plaintiff, and asserted that, in any event if the process of a marriage ceremony had taken place, it woul