DAMODERDAS TAPIDAS Vs. DAYABHAI TAPIDAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE suit in this appeal was brought to obtain a judicial construction of the will of Tapidas Varajdas, a Hindu inhabitant of Bombay, who died on March 31, 1886, leaving a widow Navivahoo and two sons, the respondent Dayabhai and the appellant Damoderdas, and two daughters. Dayabhai had then two sons living; Damoderdas had two infant sons, who died before the date of the will. The widow Navivahoo died on August 12, 1887.

(2.) THE will is dated May 26, 1885, and is a long document in Gujerati, divided into numbered paragraphs. The 8th, 13th, and 18th are, the only parts of it which it is necessary to refer to in this appeal.

(3.) THE original Court and the Appellate Court have both held that Damoderdas and Dayabhai took a life interest only in the houses as tenants in common, and that the ulterior interests therein, not being validly disposed of, fell into the residue. On the argument of the appeal before their Lordships this was not disputed, and the contention related only to the construction of Clauses 13 and 18. Section 82 of the Indian Succession Act, 1865, enacts that where property is bequeathed to any person he is entitled to the whole interest of the testator therein unless it appears from the will that only a restricted interest was intended for him. This section is by Section 2 of the Hindu Wills Act, 1870, made to apply to wills made by any Hindu in the town of Bombay, and their Lordships have some doubt whether in the 8th clause it sufficiently appears that the sons were to take only an estate for life. It is, however, in the view which their Lordships take of Clauses 13 and 18, unnecessary to determine it.