Chellappa Et Al V. Kanapathy et Al

1914 Present: Pereira J.

CHELLAPPA et al. v. KANAPATHY et al.

137-C. R. Chavakachcheri, 19, 773.

Tesawalamai-Inheritance-Sons and undowried daughters succeed to mother's property.

Under the Tesawalamai. where a woman died before the coming into operation of Ordinance No. 1 of 1911, leaving undowried daughters and a son. they jointly (and not the undowried daughters only) were her heirs at law.

THE facts are set out in the judgment.

Balasingham (with him Arulanandam), for the plaintiffs, appellants. -Under the Tesawalamai, when a woman dies, both her sons and unmarried daughters succeed to her estate. See Muttukristna's Tesawalamai 12, 28, 48, 59, 66, 69, 147.

In Nagaratnam v. Alagaratnam 1 the question which the Court had to decide was whether a husband had a right to allot as dowry to his daughters such portions of the dowry property of his deceased wife as he may think fit. It was conceded in this case (14 N. L. R. 60, see page 63) in the District Court that both sons and daughters

1 (1911) 14 N. L. R. 60.

inherited the mother's property equally. The only point at issue in the District Court was whether the father had a right to allot the mother's property by way of dowry as he thought fit. In Nagaratnam v. Alagaratnam, l therefore, the expression of opinion that only daughters succeed to their mother is obiter. In Thiagarajah v. Paranchothipillai 2 the only point decided was that property inherited by a child from its mother goes on the death of the child to the mother's next of kin, and not to the father. The principle that males take from males and females from females has no application to a case of this kind.

The sections of the Tesawalamai indicate clearly that both eons and daughters succeed equally. Counsel also cited D. C. Jaffna, 1, 323. 3

Wadsworth (with him Sellathurai), for the respondents. -Nagaratnam v. Alagaratnam 1 is a direct authority on this point. The Judges base their decision on the principle that only daughters succeed to their mother. In 11 N. L. R. 345 the Full Court has clearly laid down the principle that females succeed to females. Counsel also relied on 4 Tam. 60.

Cur. adv. vult.

June 15, 1914. Pereira J. -

The question in this case is whether the property of Seethassi devolved, on her death, on her three children, Kathirkamar, Sivakamai, and Letchimy, or only on Sivakamai and Letchimy. These two persons were undowried daughters of Seethassi, while Kathirkamar was her son. The matter really at issue is whether under the Tesawalamai the heirs of a woman who dies leaving children-males and females-are only her undowried daughters, or the sons as well It would be a hopeless task to attempt to answer this question by means of the collection of the laws and customs of the Tamils of Jaffna known as the Tesawalamai. It is a crude and primitive compilation, which may fittingly be described in the words of Tennyson, used with reference to another collection of laws, as no other than a " wilderness of single instances; " and it is, I may add, with a feeling of relief that one contemplates the fact that practically the whole of this ill-arranged and ill-expressed mass of law and custom has been recently repealed and replaced by legislation on more modern lines. Cases like the present of rights of inheritance in respect of the estates of persons who died before the corning into operation of the legislation above referred to, namely, Ordinance No. 1 of 1911, are however still governed by the old law. If we allow ourselves to be guided by the older reported decisions, there will be no difficulty in answering the question mentioned above in

1 (1911) 14 N. L. R. 60.                                                             2 (1908) 11 N. L. R. 345

3 S. C. Civil Min, March 4, 1914.

favour of both males and females. The numerous decisions cited by the appellant's counsel from Muttukristna's Tesawalamai are in favour of the view t

Click Here to Read the rest of this document