IBRAHIM GOOLAM ARIFF Vs. SAIBOO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The questions raised by this appeal relate to the succession of Goolam Ariff, a wealthy Mahomedan resident of Rangoon, Who died on 16 May 1902. He left a will dated 19 April 1902, by which he bequeathed his property to his heirs according to Mahomedan law. The controversy between the parties is concerned with the validity of certain deeds of gift, dated 2 April, 1902, by which he conveyed to certain of his minor children and wives a certain number of undivided 2,000 shares in certain valuable properties. These deeds are attacked by the executor of the will on two main grounds, the first relating to the physical condition of the deceased at the date of execution, the second founded on the law of Mushua which is said to forbid them. (The attack on the deeds as "colourable" so entirely failed, that it is unnecessary to do more than state that it was made.)

(2.) The first of these is a pure question of fact; the two Courts have concurred; and each judgment is supported by careful and elaborate reasoning. The law applicable is not in controversy; the invalidity alleged arises where the gift is made under pressure of the sense of the imminence of death.

(3.) The difficulty is in applying this to the subtle and conjectural problem of the mental condition of the testator in each case. It would be inappropriate that their Lordships, in reviewing concurrent judgments, should re-discuss the evidence in detail. Goolam Ariff was an elderly man, who had not led a careful life; he suffered and knew that he suffered, from degeneration of the arteries and of the liver and he had been sharply ill. His life, therefore, was an old and a bad one. It is highly probable that the execution of the disputed deeds was suggested by his realising the prudence of setting his house in order, but this is the motive of all wills and specially of the wills of the old and ailing. Having examined the evidence, their Lordships consider that the conclusion of the Courts was sound.