Phillips, J.

1. This suit (O.S. No. 27 of 1917) has been brought to set aside the final decree in O.S. No. 15 of 1903 in the Kumbakonam Sub-Court and for recovery of the properties comprised therein. The first question we have to deal with in this appeal is whether that decree can be set aside as being absolutely void for want of jurisdiction. It is a decree in a mortgage suit instituted in 1903 when the Kumbakonam Court had jurisdiction over the place wherein the mortgaged property is situated. In 1907 the jurisdiction over this particular place was transferred from the Kumbakonam Court to the Mayavaram Court; and, at the time of passing the final decree, the Kumbakonam Court had no jurisdiction over the place where the mortgage properties lie. The Subordinate Judge, relying on Subbiah Naicker v. Ramanathan Chettiar (1914) ILR 37 M 463 : 26 MLJ 189, has held that this decree was absolutely void, but has, for other reasons, dismissed the plaintiffs suit.

2. In urging the appeal the respondents support the decree on the ground that this finding of the lower Court is not correct; and it is argued that when the case has been properly instituted in a Court and is pending the mere