1933 Present : Macdonell C.J.

DEWASURENDRA v. DE SILVA.

36-C. R. Galle, 11,737.

Money lender-Business of money lending-Systematic and continuous- Failure to keep books-Money Lending Ordinance, No. 2 of 1918, s. 8.

Where a person supplemented his income by money lending, which was proved to be systematic and continuous,-

Held, that he was carrying on the business of money lending.

Where the failure of a money lender to keep books of account was an act of deliberate omission,-

Held, that such failure cannot be said to be due to inadvertence within the meaning of the proviso to section 8 (2) of the Money Lending Ordinance.

THIS was an action to recover money due on a promissory note. Plaintiff, who was a man of means, supplemented his income by investing in loans. The question was whether plaintiff was carrying on business as a money lender within the meaning of section 8 of Ordinance No. 2 of 1918, and, if so, whether the note was unenforceable in view of his failure to keep books of account. The learned Commissioner of Requests held that the plaintiff was not a money lender within the meaning of the Money .Lending Ordinance.

L.