JUDGMENT:

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 2544 of 1969.

From the Judgment and Decree dated 21-12-1965 of the Kerala High Court in A.S. No. 403 of 1961.

P. Govindan Nair, C. S. Ananthakrishna Iyer, S. Balakrishnan and Mrs. Baby Krishnan, for the Appellant. T. S. Krishnamurthy Iyer and Mrs. S. Gopalakrishnan for the Respondents. E. M. S. Anam and P. N. Pura for Respondent No. 9.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DESAI, J.-On a certificate granted by the Full Bench of the High Court of Kerala, original plaintiff, a Hindu widow who was seeking partition of a share to which her deceased husband was entitled, having lost in both the Courts, has filed this appeal. The High Court granted the certificate under Article 133(1)(c) of the Constitution as in its opinion the following substantial questions of law arise from the judgment rendered by it:

1. Whether under the Mitakshara Law the parties are governed by customary law, and, in the absence of any rule of customary law on the point in question, by Mitakshara Law property can be divided, albeit by a family settlement, between two artificia