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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0620 and id is 1 raw text is: XIV MOORE IND. APP., 346
1854; and that it should also be declared, that the Appellant is entitled to mesne
profits from the time and in manner above mentioned; and, further, that the Re-
spondents should pay the costs of the litigation in [346] India, and if any costs
have been paid in India they should be refunded, and their Lordships will direct
that the Appellant should have the costs of this appeal.
[See Brindabun Chunder Sircar Chowdry v. Brindabun Chunder Dey Ckowdry,
1874, L.R. 1 Ind. App. 185.]
RAMAMANI AMMAL (as Mother and Guardian of MUTTU DURAISAWMI TAVER),
Appellant. - KULANTHAI NATCHEAR, and Others, - Respondents*
[July 19, 20, 22, 1871].
On appeal frairb the High Co-nit of Madras.
A marriage between a Zemindar of the Malavar class, a sub-division of the
Soodra caste, with a woman of the Vellala class of Soodras. Held (1) as to
the factum, that a marriage had taken place, and (2) that such a marriage
was valid by Hindoo law.
In questions of disputed facts, the rule of the Judicial Committee is, that the
ordinary legal and reasonable presumptions of facts must not be lost sight of
in the trial of Indian cases, however untrustworthy much of the evidence
submitted to the Courts below may commonly be; that due weight must be
given to the evidence; and that evidence in a particular case must not be
rejected from a general distrust of rnative testimony, nor perjury widely im-
puted, without some grave grounds to support the imputation, as such a
rejection would virtually submit the decision of the rights of others to the
suspicion, and not to the deliberate judgment, of the Judge. The entire
history of a family must, therefore, not be thrown aside because the evidence
of some of the Witnesses is, incredible or untrustworthy [14 Moo. Ind. App.
354].
The facts of the case are so fully stated, and the evidence examined in detail
in their Lordships' judg-[347]-ment as to require no further statement than the
nature of the question raised by the suit.
The suit was instituted in the Civil Court of Madura, by the Appellant (as
Mother and Guardian of Muttu Duraisawmi Taver), in which the first Respondent
was the principal Defendant, to obtain possession of the real and personal estate
of Sivasawmi Taver, deceased, formerly of Ramnad, a sub-division Zemindar. The
Respondent was admittedly the Widow of Sivasawmi Taver, but the Appellant
alleged, and the Respondent denied, that she was legally married to Sivasawmi
Taver, or that her Son, Muttu Duraisawmi Taver, was the Son and Heir of Sivasawmi
Taver. Upon the suit coming on for hearing, the Acting Civil Judge, Mr. C. N.
Pochin, decided in favour of the Plaintiff, holding the marriage valid in fact and
law; but this, decree was, upon appeal, reversed by the High Court at Madras, con-
sisting of the Justices Holloway and Innes, who dismissed the suit with costs. Hence
the present appeal, which was argued by
Mr. Leith, and Mr. Benjamin, for the Appellant; Sir R. Palmer, Q.C., and Mr.
F. C. J. Millar, for the first'and principal Respondent.
The consideration of their Lordships' judgment having been reserved, judgment
was now delivered by
The Right Hon. the Lord Justice James (Nov. 20, 1871).-This is an appeal from
* Present: Members of the Judicial Committee,-The Right Hon. Sir James
William Colvile, the Right Hon. the Lord Justice James, and the Right Hon. the Lord
Justice Mellish. Assessor,-The Right Hon. Sir Lawrence Peel.
816
RAMAMANI AMMAL](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0620&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)