MARIAMBI Vs. FATMABAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The position, so far as concerns the Advocate General, is peculiar. When the matter was argued his counsel contended that the bequest was good and in this plaintiff supported him. For this reason I reserved judgment though I was of a contrary opinion. Subsequently the Advocate General himself appeared and stated that- he did not think the bequest could be supported. I propose now to give shortly my reasons for the view which I take....

(2.) In Runchordas Vandrawandas V/s. Parvatibhai (1899) L.R. 26 I.A. 71. s.c. 1 Bom. L.R. 607. their Lordships of the Privy Council have adopted as appropriate to India the test laid down by Lord Eldon in Moriee V/s. The Bishop of Durham (1805) 10 V Ves, 522, 539. and as regards the case before them they say (p. 81):- The objects which can be considered to be meant by that word ate too vague and uncertain for the administration of them to be under any control.

(3.) The word there considered was "Dharam" which is another form of the word "Dharma" used in the will before me. The meaning of that word is stated in their Lordships judgment. The Gujarati word "Kherat" is derived from the Arabic "Khairat". In Arabic "Khair"means"good" and in Pratt's Urdu Dictionary "Khairat" is said to mean "Good works, alms, charities". In Wilson's Glossary the word "Khairat" is explained as meaning "Alms, charity; lands given as charitable endowments". And it is said that the term is more especially applicable to "grants or alms given by, or to, Mohammadans". Pathak's Gujarati Dictionary gives "kherat" as "alms, charity". The word "vigere" may be fairly translated as "et cetera" and like the phrase "et cetera" is to be read m ejusdem generis with the words which it follows. The word "charity" must of course be understood in the sense in which lexicographers use it, and not as in any way connoting anything which English lawyers understand by that term. The English cases upon the technical meaning of the word "charity" are no guide, and we are not concerned with the preamble of the English statute (43 Eliz. c. 4).