MAUNG TUN THA Vs. MA THIT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant in this case is the plaintiff in certain proceedings which were instituted in the District Court at That on, by which he claimed to have one- fourth share of the estate of his father determined and allotted to him. The claim is stated quite clearly and with commendable brevity, in the plaint, which sets out allegations which are no longer in dispute, namely, that the plaintiff was the eldest son of his father; that his father died on the 19th December, 1906, intestate and left a widow and certain other sons and daughters him surviving.

(2.) The ground upon which that claim was resisted depended in the main upon an allegation that the plaintiff had behaved in an unfilial and illegal way, and, consequently, had forfeited his rights. That defence was disposed of by the learned Judge who heard the cause, who, although he appears to have been greatly embarrassed by the untrustworthiness of the evidence before him, decided that the defendant had not established this allegation.

(3.) The only other matter left for decision was one which, according to the defendant s contention arose upon paragraph 5 of their defence. That paragraph suggested that the plaintiff had not in fact any share in the estate, but that, on the death of his father, he had obtained a right to elect whether he would have that share or no and that, in the absence of election within a reasonable time, the claim could not now be brought forward. That view was supported by the Chief Court and from their decision this appeal has been brought.