John Wallis, C.J.

1. The plaintiff in this suit, as the illegitimate son by a dancing woman of the late Ramasawmi Chettiar, a Nattukottai Chetty, seeks to recover a one-third share of the joint family properties, as against the legitimate son, the 1st defendant, who would otherwise take the whole by survivorship. The Subordinate Judge found that the paternity of the plaintiff was not proved and dismissed the suit. We are unable to agree with this conclusion.

2. The deceased, as found by the Subordinate Judge, appears to have become acquainted with the plaintiffs mother in 1900, when she had for some years been carrying on the profession of a dancing girl and a prostitute. He set her up in a house at Srirangam, near Trichinopoly, where he carried on business, and lived with her there for some years. Shortly before the plaintiffs birth, early in 1903, he was imprisoned for fraud, and the correspondence shows that he regarded the child about to be born as his and that subsequently he recognised it as such. The correspondence also shows that his legitimate son, the 1st defendant, used to live in the house with his approval. In 1905, when the plaintiff was a little over two years