The absence of evidence to establish joint family property and the lack of obligation for the plaintiff to meet expenses for her brother's marriage influenced the court's decision.

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 a decree for that house to the plaintiff.

3. So far as the purchase-money of Rs. 4,300 that went towards the purchase of this house is concerned, there is no very clear evidence as to whom it belonged. It was suggested by the 1st defendant that the money was realized by the sale of jewels belonging to herself, her sister and her mother. But that case has not been accepted by the learned Judge and it seems to me for a very good reason, for the 1st defendant was too young to know how exactly the money was found. In fact, she admits except that she found some of the jewels missing after the purchase of the house, she had no reason for saying that any money was obtained by the sale of the jewels and that the house was purchased with that money. There is also evidence in the case which shows that at the time of the purchase, the mother, Rukmani Ammal was not earning anything by her profession. The 1st defendant was altogether too young to earn anything at the time. So the only earning member at the time of the purchase the plaintiffs mother; Jeevarathnammal There is no very clear evidence that at the time of the purchase her mother had any jewels at all, so that the possibility of jewels having been sold for the purchase of the house has also not been established. We have then a case where three dancing-girls are living together, only one of them earning and purchasing a house in the name of that earning member.

4. Now, it is suggested that in such a case there is a presumption that the purchase was for the benefit of the whole family. I am unable to draw such a presumption in this case without proof of further facts. There is nothing to show that there were any joint funds in the hands of Rukmani Ammal or Jeevarathnammal which could have been utilized for the purchase of the house. In the absence of such evidence such a presumption could not be drawn in favour of the 1st defendants contention.

5. The fact that the property was purchased in the name of Jeevarathnammal is an outstanding fact which we have to bear in mind, which would show it was hers, unless we have evidence to establish that the person in whose name the purchase was made was not the person who found the money; that must be established by evidence. Furthermore, the conduct of Jeevarathnammal so long as she was alive is entirely consistent with the fact that she was the sole owner of the property and that her mother had nothing to do with it, nor her sister. When mortgaging the property, she executed the mortgage deed herself in her own name and in that mortgage-deed we find that her mother, Rukmini Animal, had attested the deed. I am inclined to agree with the learned Judge that the mother is not likely to have attested the deed without knowing its contents. Her attestation is thus evidence t