Krishnan, J.

1. This is an appeal by the 1st defendant against the decree passed by Masilamani Pillai, J., sitting on the original side in a suit brought by the plaintiff for the recovery of house No. 201, Mint Street, for declaring certain mortgages on the house invalid and for properties described in Schedules B, C and D.

2. The main contention in the case is as regards the title to the house. The house was purchased in 1897, the sale-deed being in the name of the plaintiffs mother. It may be stated at once that the plaintiff and the 1st defendant are members of the dancing-girl caste and they are a family of dancing-girls. In 1897, when the house was purchased, plaintiffs mother was living with her mother Rukmani Ammal and with the 1st defendant, her sister. The 1st defendant was then a young girl about ten years old. It is the 1st defendants case that the house, though purchased in the name of plaintiffs mother Jeevarathnammal, was really joint family property of herself, her mother and her sister. The learned Judge who tried the case has decided that the house belonged exclusively to Jeevarathnammal and on her death it passed to her heir, the plaintiff, and he has given