1917 Present: De Sampayo J.

KATHERINA v. DAVITH.

279-P. C. Galle, 49,801.

Maintenance - Imprisonment for default of payment of allowance decreed-Is liability to pay allowance extinguished

Where a person ordered to pay maintenance under Ordinance No. 19 of 1889 has suffered imprisonment for default of payment of the allowance, the liability to pay the allowance in respect of which the imprisonment was imposed is extinguished.

THE facts appear from the judgment.

Bartholomeusz, for applicant, appellant.-The liability for maintenance is of a civil nature. It is not extinguished by imprisonment. Any payment made subsequent to the imprisonment could be applied for the payment of arrears which became due previous to the imprisonment.

A sum of Rs. 231 was due at the time the respondent was sentenced to imprisonment. No part of that had been paid or recovered when he was brought up the second time on a warrant, but another Rs. 60 had by then become due. Therefore the sum of Rs. 18 which was paid had to be applied for the part payment of the Rs. 231; and till the whole of that sum of Rs. 231 is paid no sum could be applied to the payment of w