Privy Council Court July 1938 Judgments

Pestonjee Bhicajee Firm Vs. Patrick H. Anderson

Court: Privy Council

Lord Romer: By his will dated 28th December 1926, one John Alexander Anderson, who died in October 1928, directed that the residue of his estate should be divided into sixteen shares and he bequeathed three of such shares to his nephew C. S. Anderson and Winifred, his wife, and their issue as therein mentioned. By a codicil dated 22nd July 1927, the testator revoked that bequest and in lieu thereof he directed as follows : The income from these three-sixteenths shall as long as C. S. Anderson and Winifred, his wife, are both alive be divided, two-thirds to the wife and one-third to the husband. If one of them dies his or her share of the income shall belong to their four children or the survivors of them in equal proportions, and when the remaining parent dies the capital and income shall belong to the children then living in equal proportions. The respondent, Patrick H. Anderson, is one of the four children of C. S. Anderson and his said wife; and the question to be determined upon t...

George Walkem Shannon and Others Vs. Lower Mainland Dairy Products Boa ...

Court: Privy Council

Lord Atkin: This is an appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia reversing a decision of Manson J. who had given judgment in the action in favour of the plaintiffs, the present appellants. The appellants were dairy farmers carrying on their business in the Province of British Columbia and were affected by a Milk Marketing Scheme approved by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council under the Natural Products Marketing (British Columbia) Act, Ch. 34 of the Statutes of 1936. The scheme set up the Lower Mainland Diary Products Board (the defendants) and in the action the plaintiffs claimed a declaration that the Act was ultra vires of the Legislature of the Province: and that the plaintiffs were under no obligation to obtain licences from the defendants or comply with any of their demands : and further claimed an injunction to restrain the defendants from interfering with them. In the proceedings the Attorney-General for the Province intervened, and he alone was represen...

Mary Elizabeth Wood and Others Vs. Gerald Allan Wood

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1939PC33

Lord Russell of Killowen: Mary G. Wood made her will, dated 29th November 1923. By it she bequeathed pecuniary legacies amounting in all to $9,000; she bequeathed three life annuities of $400 each; she made bequests of common capital stock of the Bank of Nova Scotia amounting in all to 125 shares therein; she made a specific bequest of 15 shares in the Canada Cement Company to her niece Helen Carvolth; she made a specific bequest of chattels to her sister Charlotte Edwards, and a specific bequest of her shares in the Ottawa Transportation Co., Ltd. to her son Gerald A. Wood; and after specific devises of real estate, her will concluded as follows : All the rest residue and remainder of my estate real and personal which I am seized or possessed of or entitled to or over which I have any power of appointment I give, devise and bequeath as to one half thereof to my son Gerald A. Wood and as to one half thereof to the children of my deceased son James Russell Wood to be divided equally bet...

Northern Ontario Power Co. Ltd. Vs. La Roche Mines Ltd. and Another

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1939PC59

Lord Russell of Killowen: These consolidated appeals, from the Court of Appeal for Ontario, relate to the liability, if any, of La Roche Mines Ltd., under a contract with Northern Ontario Power Co. Ltd. for the supply of electric power. The agreement consists of a printed form containing general and special conditions with blanks filled in to deal with the particular customer, with the result not uncommon in such cases, that the document presents problems of construction which are not easy of solution. The contract is dated 30th December 1931 at which time the La Roche Company was the owner of two mining claims in the township of Deloro in the Porcupine District, viz. H. E. 1001 and H. E. 1002. The form which the contract assumes is, that subject to the general conditions and schedule of prices the power company is authorized and requested by the undersigned consumer (in this case the La Roche Company) to conduct its electric system with the wiring of the consumer at a point on the lat...

Rani Huzur Ara Begam and Another Vs. Deputy Commissioner, Gonda, and O ...

Court: Privy Council

Sir Shadi Lal: Raja Mohammad Mumtaz Ali Khan, taluqdar of the Utraula Estate in the District of Gonda of the Oudh Province, obtained on 22nd April 1930, against Raja Saadat Ali Khan, taluqdar of the Nanpara Estate, two decrees for the recovery of certain sums of money. These decrees were based upon an award made by the Commissioner of Lucknow Division on 8th April 1930. The award after finding the amounts of money due to the taluqdar of Utraula, concluded as follows : The payment of the annuity to the Raja of Utraula will cease on his death. But should his death occur before the liquidation of the arrears amounting to Rs. 2,09,919, payment of these arrears will be completed to his heirs. Raja Mohammad Mumtaz Ali Khan died on 4th March 1984, leaving him surviving four persons who were his heirs under the Mahomedan law ; namely his widow Rani Huzur Ara Begam, his minor daughter Rajkumari Fatma Begam, and two minor sons Raja Mohammad Mustafa Ali Khan and Iqbal Ali Khan. On 18th September ...

Peoples Bank of Northern India Ltd. Vs. Mian Ghulam Jan and Another

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1938PC276

Sir Shadi Lal: The respondent, Mian Ghulam Jan, carried on the business of buying and selling carpets at Peshawar; and for the purpose of his business he borrowed money from the appellants, the Peoples Bank of India, Limited, on what is called "cash credit account." He got also another loan from the Bank, for which he executed a promissory note on 29th August 1930, and pledged his carpets as security for the payment of the debt. At the end of April 1931, his liability to the bank amounted to Rs. 3110-7.9 on the cash credit account, and to Rs. 11,740-14-3 on the promissory note account. The total sum due by him was Rs. 14,851-6 0. He did not discharge his liability, with the result that the creditors threatened to bring an action against him to realize the debt by selling his carpets. The debtor however got a postponement of the time for payment, by executing a mortgage deed in favour of the creditors. The mortgage deed was written to secure the payment of the amount due by the debtor o...

Owners and Parties Interested in S. S. malacca Maru Vs. Deutsche Dampf ...

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1938PC263

Sir George Rankin: At 12.35 p. m. on Sunday 16th March 1930, the steamships 'Marienfels' and 'Malacca Maru' were in collision in the river Hughli at a spot south of Pukuria Point Column and north of lower Brul Sand buoy. The 'Marienfels' is a vessel belonging to the plaintiffs-respondents, a German company : her gross tonnage is 8000 tons, her length 495 feet and her beam 58 feet. The 'Malacca Maru' is a Japanese vessel of 5374 tons, length 400 feet and beam 54 feet. The collision occurred in broad daylight: the weather was fine and clear : the wind of no material force. It was flood tide-a spring tide of 3 knots in the navigable channel. The water had risen 17 feet above low water marks and it was still rising. Both vessels were proceeding southwards to sea and the Marienfels' was overtaking. They had left Garden Reach - the 'Malacca Maru' at 9.25 a. M. and the 'Marienfels' some twenty minutes later. The speed of the former was about ten knots and of the latter about 11. Both vessels ...

Dawa Faqir Singh Vs. Emperor

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1938PC266

Lord Wright: The appellant was convicted and sentenced on 28th May 1936, by the Special Magistrate of the District of Lahore under S. 120-B (conspiracy) and S. 471 (using as genuine a forged document known to be forged) of the Indian Penal Code. The sentence was a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for five years. The conviction and sentence were confirmed on appeal. The ground of this appeal is that the Special Magistrate had no jurisdiction to try the case, since it came within the provision of S. 337, Criminal P. C., and could only be lawfully tried in the circumstances of the case by the High Court or Court of Session. This objection was over ruled by a decision of the High Court of Lahore and in effect it is from that decision that this appeal is brought. The facts which are so far as relevant not in dispute may be shortly stated. The appellant, an advocate of the High Court, acted as counsel for G.S. Kochar, who was plaintiff in a suit in the Court of the Senior Subordinate Judge ...

Smt. Rajlakshmi Dassi Vs. Bholanath Sen and Others

Court: Privy Council

Lord Thankerton: This is an appeal from a judgment and decree of the High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal dated 8th March 1935, which affirmed the judgment and decree, dated 15th May 1930, of the Special Land Acquisition Judge of the 24 Parganas on a reference made to him under Sec. 18, Land Acquisition Act (1 of 1894) by the Second Land Acquisition Collector, Calcutta. The question in the appeal is whether the appellant is entitled to the compensation money awarded in respect of the acquisition of part of the premises 2, Deb Lane, in the town of Calcutta, as successor to the estate of Raj Ballav Seal, of which the said premises formed part. Raj Ballav died on 10th June 1870, leaving him surviving his widow Mati Dassi and three grandsons, who were sons of a predeceased daughter by another wife, of whom one died in 1880 unmarried. Respondent 1 is another grandson and respondent 2 represents the third grandson, who died in 1905. The grandsons' line is hereinafter called "th...

Dinabandhu Chatterjee Vs. Ashutosh Chatterjee and Others

Court: Privy Council

Sir Shadi Lal: This is an appeal from a judgment and decree of the High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal dated 21st June 1935, which reversed the judgment and decree of the Second Subordinate Judge of Faridpur dated 13th August 1932, and set aside the sale of an estate for arrears of land revenue. On 22nd March 1930, a permanently settled estate, bearing tauzi No. 299 of the Backergange Collectorate, was sold by public auction for arrears of land revenue. Three persons, namely Ashutosh Chatterjee, Rai Rajni Kanta Chatterjee and Suresh Chandra Chatterjee, were proprietors of that estate, each owning one-third share therein. The total land revenue assessed on the estate is Rs. 13-1.1, of which Rs. 5-8-10 has to be paid by 12th January of each year, and the remainder Rs. 7-8-3 by 28th March. It is common ground that in respect of the amount of Rs. 5-8-10 which was payable on or before 12th January 1930, two co-sharers, namely the plaintiff, Ashutosh Chatterjee and defendant 2...