The Chief Justice.-This is the plaintiff’s appeal; it arises out of a suit for specific performance of a contract for the sale of land.

The first defendant is the elder brother of the second defendant, both are stepbrothers of a man named Ramalingayya, now deceased; all of them are sons of one Padmanabhudu, who died on 12th June, 1935; at that date the second defendant was a minor, he attained majority in 1937. Prior to the father’s death, all of them formed an undivided Hindu family owning property and land, approximating to an area of 190 acres, in Manepalli village in the district of East Godavari. In, May, 1935, shortly before the father’s death, there was a partition in the family, by which about 25 acres of land were allotted to the father, who, by his will dated May, 6, 1935, left a part of the land allotted to him to his wife for life and after his death to his three sons and the remainder to his daughters. The plaintiff alleges that at the partition in May 1935, the only disruption effected in the family related solely to the father and the only division in the family property was the portion of land allotted to him. It is beyond doubt, however, that at or about