The right of appeal is governed by the law in force at the time the action was commenced, not by subsequent procedural law.

1. This appeal filed by the defendants against the judgment dated 8-3-1968 of the Senior Civil Judge at Margao raises the question of limitation, it being the contention of the plaintiffs - respondents that it is barred by time. The rival contention is that the appeal is within time, having been filed within 90 days provided by Art.116 of the Limitation Act of 1963.

2. The suit was filed by the plaintiffs - respondents in the Comarca Court at Margao on 15-3-1960. It was decreed by a judgment dated 8-3-1968 and the appeal was filed on 25-6-1968. Shri M. S. Usgaonkar, the learned counsel for the respondents, submitted that the suit having been filed under the Portuguese Civil Procedure Code, hereinafter called the Portuguese Code, the appeal could be filed in terms of that Code and not in terms of the Civil Procedure Code of India, hereinafter referred to as the Indian Code, which came into force in the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu on 15-6-1966. According to the provisions of the Portuguese Code, it is not in dispute, the appeal has to be filed in the Court which decides the suit. Shri Usgaonkar therefore submitted that the defeated defendants could not have lodged the appeal in this Court.
Another point raised by Shri Usgaonkar is that the Portuguese Code provides a period of 8 days, counted from the date of the judgment of the trial court, for filing an appeal and that since the present appeal was filed beyond that period it is evidently barred by time. Shri A. Lobo, representing the appellant, canvassed that from 15-6-1966, when the Indian Code was extended to the Union Territory, the Comarca Courts ceased to exist, that those Courts were substituted by the Courts of Senior Civil Judges, and that appeals from the judgments of the Senior
Civil Judges have to be filed in the High Court as provided by S.22 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Civil Courts Act of 1965, hereinafter referred to as the Civil Courts Act It was further urged by Shri Lobo that since the Limitation Act is a procedural statute it applies to the pending litigation and that since the Limitation Act of 1963 came into force on 1st of January 1964 when the suit culminating in this appeal was pending, it is the period of limitation provided by that Act which shall govern the appeal in hand. He submitted further that since Art.116 provides a period of 90 days for an appeal to the High Court from any decree or order, the instant appeal is well within time.

3. After examination of the respective submissions made by the parties' counsel in the light of the authorities cited at the bar, I have reached the conclusion that the contention raised by Shri Usgaonkar is well founded and so must prevail with the result that the appeal must be dismissed as barred by time.

4. The Civil Courts Act was enforced in this Union Territory simultaneously with the Indian Code which came into force, as mentioned before, on 15-6-1966. S.35 of the Civil Courts Act provides that any reference in any law in force in the Union Territory to the Court of Comarca or to the Court of Julgado or to the Judge thereof, shall be construed as a reference respectively to the Court of Senior Civil Judge and the Court of the Junior Civil Judge, or to the Judge thereto. In face of this statutory provision, there appears to be no substance in the contention of Shri Lobo that since the Comarca Courts are no longer in existence in this territory the provisions relevant to the institution of the appeals and the period of limitation governing them as mentioned in the Portuguese Code are no longer in operation. In the Portuguese Code any reference to the Comarca Court shall be construed as reference to the Court of Senior Civil Judge. Therefore the point raised by Shri Lobo based on the change in nomenclature of t