MA THAN THAN Vs. MA PWA THIT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question involved in this appeal is whether the appellant is the keittima adopted daughter of Ko Po Kyaw and Ma Nyun. Ko Po Kyaw died at Edward Street, in Rangoon, on the 27 October, 1916, leaving considerable property, worth from Rs. 1,00,000 to Rs. 1,50,000. Ma Nyun was the first wife of Ko Po Kyaw. The appellant claims that she was adopted as keittima daughter in or about 1893, after the deceased, and his first wife, had been married 16 years without children. The respondent was the fifth of the six wives of the deceased. She was married to the deceased about 1906, was divorced from him about six months later, but resumed living with him after the death of his sixth wife, and was living with him at the time of his death. The appellant was born in 1892, being the daughter of Ma Gyoke, who was a cousin of Ko Po Kyaw, and married to Ko Maung Gale. In the first Court the Judge, Mr. Justice Robinson, gave judgment in favour of the appellant, but this judgment was set aside in the Court of Appeal.

(2.) At the trial of the action, there was a considerable conflict of evidence between the witnesses, called respectively on behalf of the appellant and respondent. Mr. Justice Robinson held that implicit trust might be placed in the evidence of Maung So Naing, who had joined Ko Po Kyaw in business many years ago, and was the trusted manager of the business. He lived in Ko Po Kyaw's house, and was treated like a brother. There is no doubt of the importance of the evidence of Maung So Naing, but in the Court of Appeal his evidence was treated as unreliable, and the Chief Justice regrets that he cannot agree with the learned Judge's opinion of this man's impartiality. Before further considering the weight that should be given to the evidence of Maung So Naing, it will be well to state shortly certain facts which are either not disputed, or which, in the opinion of their Lordships, have been clearly established.

(3.) Ko Po Kyaw and Ma Nyun took the appellant, when she was a child, aged about one year, away from her parents, and she lived in the house of Ko Po Kyaw in Edwards Street for the next thirteen or fourteen years. She was taken to Ko Po Kyaw's house with the consent of the natural parents, and Ma Gyoke, the natural mother, states that she was taken to be adopted by Ko Po Kyaw and Ma Nyun; and this statement, which alone might be of little value, is in accord with the subsequent sequence of events. From the time that the appellant was taken to the house of Ko Po Kyaw she appears to have been brought up publicly as his daughter, and to have lived openly and continuously under his protection. Their Lordships attach much importance to the evidence of Maung Po Dun, who kept a school in Rangoon, and who entered the appellant's name in the School Register for the month of March, 1899, according to the regulations prescribed for the students names in native schools, The entry in the register was produced, and in the column in which the name and occupation of parent or guardian is entered, the name entered is: Maung Ba Kyaw, Trader, Edward Street.