CAROLINA DOS SANTOS Vs. DOMINIC JOSEPH PINTO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff sues the defendants as heirs and representatives of the deceased Pascoal Pinto, on the ground that at the date of her marriage with the said Pascoal Pinto he was a domiciled subject of Goa in Portuguese India and that being so their marriage with all its legal incidents must be governed and determined by the law of Portugual. This being done she alleges that certain rights will then be adjudged due to her, and seeks to recover accordingly. The defendant No. 3, one of her step-sons, supports her case in the main and contends on his own behalf, that at the date of the marriage of his mother with the deceased Pascoal Pinto, Pascoal Pinto was a domiciled subject of Goa in Portuguese India and that in like manner with the plaintiff he, the defendant No. 3, was entitled to certain rights and benefits under the Portuguese law.

(2.) The defence is that Pascoal Pinto was, at the time of his two marriages, with the mother of defendant No. 3 in 1871 and with the plaintiff in 1903, a domiciled subject of British India and that in consequence none of the rights or reliefs claimed by the plaintiff or defendant No. 3 can be awarded.

(3.) In this state of the pleadings it was agreed that the question, whether Pascoal Pinto was at the date of his marriages subject to the law of Portugal, or, being a domiciled British Indian subject, subject to that of British India, was first to be inquired into and decided.