JUDGMENT

Sir Lionel Leach:

[1] The parties in this case are Mahomedans residing in Ceylon. The appeal raises a question of considerable difficulty, namely whether Roman-Dutch law or Muslim lav' governs, in the matter of acceptance, a gift of immoveable property made by a Mahomedan in favour of minors, there being embodied in the deed conveying the property a fide: commission for the benefit of the donees' children. A fidei commissum is well known in Roman-Dutch law. which is the basis of the law of Ceylon, but it is completely alien to Muslim jurisprudence.

[2] The deed with which the appeal is concerned was executed by Saffra Umma, the paternal grandmother of the respondents, on 28 June 1927. The donor was the widow' of one Meera Lebbe Marikar Idroos Lebbe Marikar, There w'ere two sons of the marriage, Idroos Lebbe Marikar Mahomed Sathuk, the defendant in the action which has given rise to the appeal, and Idroos Lebbe Marikar Mahomed Zain, the father of the respondents. who died before the execution of the deed. By it the donor conveyed certain immoveable property in Colombo to the respondents in equal shares, subject to the reservation of a life interest to herself, with a fidei com