JUDGMENT

1. The appellants vendees were defendants in a suit brought by the plaintiff-respondent, Sheikh Muhammad Sulai-man, to pre-empt a sale of property in two villages, Bafipur and Khwajpur, made in their favour by the third defendant, Salika Bibi.

2. This lady is a first cousin of the plaintiff and she and the plaintiff are co-sharers in the same mahals in the two villages. The purchasers have shares in these villages but in different mahals. The plaintiff relied upon the custom set out in the wajib ul-arzes prepared at the last revision of Settlement in or about the year 1884. (The District is permanently settled).

3. It is admitted that, since these wajib-ul-arzes have been prepared, there has been a perfect partition of both the villages in suit and it is this fact which has been relied upon by the defendants-appellants in order to defeat the plaintiff's claim. It is common ground that no fresh wajib-ul-arzes were prepared after partition and so it was contended that the custom had been abrogated. In the alternative, it was pleaded that if the custom was still in force the plaintiff had no better right than the defendants-purchasers as all are owners of shares in the two villa