1932 Present : Macdonell C.J., Garvin S.P.J., and Dalton J.

HUSSAN v. PEIRIS et al.

209-D. C. Kalutara, 14,612.

Jurisdiction-Partition action-Several defendants-Residence-Test of jurisdiction-Any defendant-Courts Ordinance, s. 65 and Civil Procedure Code, s. 9 (a).

An action may be brought in a District Court where any party defendant resides, viz., any defendant against whom the right to any relief is alleged to exist.

A party defendant in section 65 of the Courts Ordinance and in section 9 (a) of the Civil Procedure Code means any party defendant.

THIS was an action in which the plaintiff sued the defendants all resident within the jurisdiction of the District Court of Kalutara to partition a land, situate at Beruwala, a place beyond the jurisdiction of the Kalutara Court. The intervenients, who were residents at Beruwala, claimed a portion of the land and pleaded that the Court had no jurisdiction. The District Judge upheld the plea and dismissed the action.

N. E. Weerasooria (with him D. E. Wijewardene), for plaintiff-appellant. -There is no question that the District Court of Kalutara had jurisdiction at the commencement of