1912 Supreme(Mad) 382
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MARAS
S Aiyar, S Aiyar
Pichikala Mangamma
Versus
Pami Ramamma And Ors.
Decided On : 13 August, 1912
The central legal point established in the judgment is the admissibility of a document as evidence in a suit for specific performance based on the intention of the parties and whether it constitutes a present conveyance of the property.
Headnote:
Admissibility of Document - Specific Performance - The court considered whether the document in question was admissible in evidence on the ground that it was not registered. The document was found to be an agreement to sell and not a present conveyance of the property, and therefore admissible as evidence in a suit for specific performance.
Fact of the Case:
The suit was for specific performance based on a document purporting to be an agreement for sale. The document was contested on the ground that it was not registered and was intended to pass the property.
Finding of the Court:
The court concluded that the document was not a present conveyance of the property but embodied the terms of the conveyance to be executed subsequently. It held that the document was admissible as evidence in a suit for specific performance.
Issues: The main issue was the admissibility of the document in evidence on the ground that it was not registered and whether it constituted a present conveyance of the property.
Ratio Decidendi: The court's decision was based on the intention of the parties as expressed in the instrument, determining whether there was a present conveyance of the property or only an agreement to create a future right.
Final Decision: The court reversed the decree of the Subordinate Judge and remanded the appeal for fresh disposal according to law, holding that the document should not have been rejected by the lower Appellate Court.
1. The decision of the point (sic) in second appeal is not free from difficulty. The point is whether Exhibit A in this case is inadmissible in evidence on the ground that it was not registered. The suit is for specific performance. The document purports to be an agreement for sale and it says: "I shall execute a sale-deed on proper stamp paper." The difficulty arises from other clauses in the instrument which, it is contended, show that Exhibit A itself was intended to pass the property. After setting out the receipt of the consideration for the sale, viz., the discharge of part of the debt due to the intended vendee on a mortgage, it says: "I have sold to you and put you now alone in the possession of the jeroyity land." Before the clause agreeing, to execute the conveyance, we have this clause: "Therefore I have executed this agreement in your favour, having agreed to your enjoying the same freely hereditarily from son to grandson with power to alienate the same by sale or gift." This clause is immediately followed by the covenant to execute a sale-deed. Having given our best consideration to the construction of this document, we have come to the conclusion that the latter clause was put in only to indicate the terms of the conveyance to be thereafter executed. The vendor agreed to execute a conveyance, having already agreed under Exhibit A that, by that conveyance, the vendee should enjoy the property hereditarily. The first clause: "I have sold to you", in our opinion, really means, "l have entered into a binding agreement to sell to you." Possession was given at once, but possession was to be held under the conveyance to be executed subsequently.
2. As already stated, what the parties purported to enter into was an agreement to sell. In our opinion, this document was not intended to be the record of any conveyance in present by the vendor to the vendee, but merely embodies the terms of the conveyance to be executed subsequently.
3. In this view, it is unnecessary to consider the cases that have been cited. The test is whether, according to the intention of the parties as expressed in the instrument, there is a present conveyance of the property, or only an agreement to create a future right. There is authority for the proposition that, even if a present right is created, the instrument would be admissible as evidence in a suit for specific performance. See Nagappa v. Devu 14 M. 55. and Upendra Nath Banerjee v. Umesh Chandra Banerjee 15 C.W.N. 375 : 12 C.L.J. 25 : 6 Ind. Cas. 364.
4. We hold, therefore, that this document should not have been rejected by the lower Appellate Court. We reverse the decree of the Subordinate Judge and remand the appeal for fresh disposal according to law.