RAMCHANDRA SHIVDAR Vs. GANGABISON JAIDEO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a suit on an adjustment of January 1905 showing a balance in plaintiff's favour of Rs. 3080.

(2.) The defence is two-fold : (1) that the adjustment represents the sum of purely gambling transactions and therefore the balance cannot be recovered at law; (2) if the Court does not find that this is so, then the defendant claims to have paid off the balance found due on the adjustment in full.

(3.) The first question I have to answer is whether the transactions which resulted in the balance of 1905 were wagering transactions. The burden of proving this lay upon the defendant. There is nothing beyond the deposition of Raghunath and the entries in the books bearing directly upon the point. It is apparent from the books of both the parties that the whole course of dealings between the plaintiff and the defendant were Teji Mandi or Nuzzerana. If the description given by Raghunath of Teji Mandi transaction is even approximately accurate, then such transactions must be essentially gambling, for according to Raghunath they leave it open to one party to be either a buyer or seller on due date as best suits his interests. I gather from the evidence of Raghunath and the comments of counsel that these curious Teji Mandi or Nuzzerana transactions are of the nature of betting on or against the comparative stability of the market. One party, for example, bets that the market will not rise or fall more than say Rs. 40 on certain day. The Tejimandiwalla on the other hand bets that it will. If on the due date the fluctuations of the market either up or down exceed Rs. 40, the Tejimandiwalla wins if not the other party who has backed the market wins. Such I understand to be roughly the nature of these transactions. Judging further by the quality of the evidence given by the plaintiff and the defendant, judging too by the admitted status of the defendant, I feel no doubt-and I had never much doubt throughout the case-that the whole of these transactions were pure unadulterated gambling.