ANANTANARAYANAN, J. :- The main appeal (A. S. No. 93 of 1957) is by defendants 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the Court below in a suit by a minor represented by his next friend adoptive mother, instituted in forma pauperis for possession, and, alternatively, for partition of the suit properties. This appeal involves a question of considerable interest and significance, with reference to the Hindu Law of adoption as it stood prior to the recent enactments which have attempted a partial codification of the Hindu Law. That question, broadly stated, is whether, upon the theory of spiritual benefit, which is now the guiding principle in determining the validity of an adoption, the widow of a predeceased son (the daughter-in -law) could validly adopt to her husband, after the death of the father-in-law, who had himself left a widow alive on the date of the adoption. There is a related question whether, assuming such an adoption to be valid, the adopted heir (the minor plaintiff in this case) could upon the doctrine of dating back of the rights of an adopted heir to the date of death of his adoptive father divest the widow of the father-in-law, who had succeeded to an undivided coparcenary