Present: Branch C.J. and Maartensz A.J.

PAULU v. RENGISHAMY.

137-D. C. Galle, 22,221.

    Partition action-Commission to partition-Notice by the Commissioner to the public-Ordinance No. 10 of 1863, s. 5.

In a partition action the notice given by the Commissioner, in terms of the proviso to section 5 of the Ordinance, of his intention to partition the land, must be a notice to the public.

It is not a sufficient compliance with the terms of the section to give such notice to the parties only.

The failure to give such notice to the public deprives a partition decree of its conclusive character.

APPEAL from an order of the District Judge of Galle refusing -the appellant to intervene in an action for the partition of a land called Galpotte-elamanana. The appellant moved to set aside the final decree either by way of appeal or in revision on the ground, among others, that the Commissioner who was appointed to carry out the commission had not complied with the terms of section 5 of the Partition Ordinance, in that no notice as required by the proviso to that section was given. It would seem that no notice was fixed on the land; there was