1916  Present: Wood Renton C.J. and Shaw J.

SILVA v. SALMAN.

428-D. C. Galle, 13,337.

Executor de son tort-Sale of land for payment of debt.

An alienation by an executor de son tort for the purpose of paying the debts of the deceased is valid and will pass the property, at any rate so long as the executor de son tort is really acting as executor, and the creditor has reason to believe that he is so acting.

who married after Ordinance No. 15 of 1876 came into force, died leaving a widow and three children. W's estate was under Rs. 1,000. M, without taking out letters of administration to her husband's estate, sold the whole of her husband's interest in the land for the purpose of paying off her husband's debt.

Held, that the sale was good.

THE facts are set out in the judgment.

A. St. V. Jayawardene, for plaintiff, appellant.

J. S. Jayawardene, for twenty-second added defendant.

Cur. adv. vult.

December 20, 1916. WOOD RENTON C.J.-

This is a partition action. But we are concerned only with a point of law arising between the plaintiff and the twenty-second added defendant. The former claims the whole of the share claimed by the latter by