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TMI Blog1978 (2) TMI 57X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e finding of the Appellate Tribunal that the petitioner and the members of his family were not governed by Hindu law is valid in law ? " One Muthu Reddiar, who was a Hindu, got converted to Christianity and married a Christian woman thereafter. Sanjeevi Reddiar was born to the couple as also other children. After the death of Muthu Reddiar, there was a deed of partition. The deed was executed between the heirs of Muthu Reddiar on August 29, 1935. The properties left by Muthu Reddiar were divided among the said heirs. The widow of Muthu Reddiar was also given a life estate under a portion of the estate of Muthu Reddiar. Thereafter, Sanjeevi Reddiar, who got a share under the deed, improved the properties by his own efforts, and in the year ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ian had adopted the Hindu law. The parties to the document describe themselves as Christians. There is no statement in the document that they are governed by Hindu law. So, at the time the document was executed it is impossible to say that the parties to that document were governed by Hindu law. Even when Sanjeevi Reddiar joined with his children and executed the document dated March 31, 1966, there is no clear statement made that the parties to the document are governed by Hindu law. All that is stated is that they were living as a family and they were having joint ownership of the properties. How it has happened and why it has happened is not at all clear. While it is true that in establishing a custom of a particular family, the degree o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 43 IC 306 at 311 [adopting an earlier view of the board in Ramalakshmi Ammal v. Sivanatha Perumal Sethurayar (14 MIA 570, 585, 586)]. The normal rule is stated thus by the Judicial Committee : " ' ....... It is of the essence of special usages modifying the ordinary law of succession that they should be ancient and invariable : and it is further essential that they should be established to be so by clear and unambiguous evidence. It is only by means of such evidence that the courts can be assured of their existence, and that they possess the conditions of antiquity and certainty on which alone their legal title to recognition depends.' " No decision has been brought to our notice where, on the basis of a single statement, it has been r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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