1935   Present: Poyser and Koch JJ.

CHETTY v. CHETTY.

 23-D. C. (Inty.) Jaffna, 8,059.

Thesawalamai-Malabar inhabitants of Jaffna-Vaniyas settled in Jaffna for three generations-Governed by Thesawalamai.

Where Tamils, belonging to the community known as Vaniyas, had made Jaffna their home for three generations and had observed the customs followed by other Hindu families,-

Held, that the parties are Malabar inhabitants of Jaffna within the meaning of Regulation No. 18 of 1806, to whom the Thesawalamai applies.

THE petitioner applied for letters of administration to the estate of a deceased person, Parameswary, on the footing that she is an heir of the deceased according to the Thesawalamai. The respondent, the father of the deceased, claimed to be the sole heir on the ground that the parties were governed by the Roman-Dutch law. The learned District Judge held that the Thesawalamai applied to the parties.

Hayley, K.C. (with him Balasingham and N. E. Weerasooria), for appellant.-The parties to these proceedings are Vaniya Chetties. Their customs are different from those of the Tamils of the Northern Province. They are a distinct race an