RATWATTE v. OWEN.

D. C., Kandy, 10,263.

Amendment of pleadings-Principle by which Courts ought to be guided- Discretion of the Court as to amendment-Alteration of plaint not followed by alteration of answer-Settling of issues-Civil Procedure Code, s. 93.
 

Parties to a suit have no right to amend the pleadings; it is to the Court that discretion is given by section 93 of the Civil Procedure Code; and although, ordinarily, the Supreme Court would not interfere to control such discretion, yet where it appeared, that the District Judge had made alterations in a plaint, but omitted to alter the answer to meet the altered plaint, and thus made the question at issue between the parties more obscure, the Supreme Court set aside the order amending the plaint and remitted the case to the Court below to settle the issues, and then to make the amendment in the pleadings so as to harmonise them with the issues framed.

Per Lawrie, J.-The principle by which a Court ought to be guided in deciding to alter a pleading is that the alteration will make the real issues clear.

Per Withers, J.-After a plaint has once been accepted, it should not, as a general