Privy Council Court February 1943 Judgments

Jitendra Nath Roy Vs. Samarendra Nath Mitter and Others

Court: Privy Council

LORD ATKIN: These are consolidated appeals from the judgment of the High Court of Calcutta reversing a judgment of the First Subordinate Judge of Hooghly. The question was as to, the right of one Jitendra now deceased whom the present appellants represent to execute a decree of which he was an assignee from the then existing decreeholder. The matter arises in a suit brought in 1923 by the three surviving grandsons of Ishan Chandra Mitter against Tarubala Dassi the widow of their deceased uncle for the partition of the joint ancestral property. It is only necessary to summarise the proceedings which led to the present claim by Jitendra. In 1924 by a decree confirming a compromise agreement it was provided that the immovables should be divided, the widow to receive one-third share, and until partition to be paid Rs. 1400 per month. Difficulties seem to have arisen in the course of the partition : the monthly payments were not duly paid, and the widow on several occasions had obtained lea...

Pigneguy and Another Vs. Yemen Ltd.

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1943PC108

LORD PORTER: In this action the appellants claimed to recover from the respondent damages for injury by fire to their estate called Barachois in Mauritius. The fire, they alleged, began on the respondent's estate and spread to the appellants' property, doing considerable damage but to an extent not yet ascertained, since the Court of first instance by agreement between the parties dealt only with the question of liability and left the quantum of damage to be ascertained later. It was common ground in argument before their Lordships that the principles upon which liability depended were to be found in the French Civil Code, sections 1382 to 1384, and that in accordance with those principles the mere fact that the fire originated on the premises of the respondent and spread to those of the appellants was not enough. In order to establish liability it was necessary to prove "faute," which for this purpose bears the same meaning as does "negligence" in English law, i. e., the neglect of su...

ishwari Prasad Singh and Others Vs. Kameshwar Singh, Bahadur and Other ...

Court: Privy Council

SIR GEORGE RANKIN: The plaintiffs appeal from a decree of the High Court at Patna dated 11th April 1940, dismissing their suit. See ('40) 27 AIR 1940 Pat 692. Respondents 2 to 11, or their predecessors, held a permanent mukarrari interest in certain villages in the district of Gaya as tenure-holders under the Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga, herein called "the landlord." By an instrument dated 21st June 1915, this interest was mortgaged by them to the plaintiffs, who obtained a preliminary mortgage decree for Rs.1,76,608 on 2nd August 1932, and a final decree for sale on 15th February 1934. The plaintiffs purchased the interest of the tenure-holders at the mortgage sale held on 15th January 1935, and were put in formal possession on 7th November 1935. The order confirming the sale is not before their Lordships, nor is its date mentioned in the order for delivery of possession, but it is said in the landlord's memorandum of appeal to the High Court to have been made at some date after 25th...

Nawab Humayun Begam Vs. Nawab Shah Mohammad Khan and Another

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1943PC94

LORD ATKIN: This is an appeal from a decree from the Chief Court of Oudh, which had reversed the decree of the Subordinate Judge of Lucknow, who had made a decree in favour of the plaintiff, the present appellant. The claim was contained in a suit which was commenced-and the date is for some purposes important-on 15th September 1934. It was a case in which, as originally framed, the plaintiff instituted a suit against her husband, his son, defendant 2, and two banks in India with whom money had been deposited on fixed deposit receipt and the claim was brought by the lady for a declaration that certain sums of money which were held by the banks on deposit receipt were her property and not her husband's. The facts appear to be that the lady was married in 1928 to the defendant, and in 1929 she had handed certain money-the only sum which their Lordships need trouble with at present is a sum of Rs. 99,000-which belonged to her, to her husband to be put on deposit in the bank in their joint...

William Ralph Guevara Vs. Robert Woodburn

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1943PC110

LORD ATKIN: This is an appeal by the plaintiff from a decision of the West Indian Court of Appeal who reversed a decision by the Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago giving judgment for the plaintiff for 1,773.88 dollars and costs. The action was brought for damages for personal injuries caused by the negligent driving of a motor vehicle by the servant of the defendant. The defendant called no evidence at the trial and the facts are, as stated by the Chief Justice, uncontroverted. In Port of Spain, Trinidad, two roads, Roberts Street and French Street, cross at right angles, Roberts Street running east and west, French Street north and south. Roberts Street on the west side of the junction is 28ft. 3in. wide, narrowing to 20ft. 2in. as it leaves the junction. French Street is 26th. 10in, continuously. About 10-30 P.M. on 12th October 1938, the plaintiff, a man aged 61, was riding his bicycle from north to south down French Street, intending to cross the junction and continue down the s...

Smt. Bhagbati Dei and Another Vs. Muralidhar Sahu

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1943PC106

LORD ATKIN: This is an appeal from the decision of the High Court, Patna, affirming a decision of the District Judge, Cuttack, allowing an application by a relative of the minor son of appellant 1 and appellant 2 for the appointment of a guardian of the property of the minor son of appellant 1. The position arose in this way : Up to 1919 there was a joint Hindu family consisting of the branches of three brothers Bhaban, Gouranga's son Muralidhar, the applicant in this case, and Khotrabasi. They had some considerable zamindari properties and they also carried on a moneylending business. In the year 1918 Muralidhar, who was the nephew of the other two members of the family, applied for and obtained, a partition. It is significant that the partition proceedings continued between all three members of the family as late as the year 1926. It is said, however, on the present application that Bhaban and Khetrabasi, the two brothers, within a few months, in 1919, agreed again to unite; and from...

Attorney-general of Alberta Vs. Attorney-general of Canada and Others

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1943PC76

VISCOUNT MAUGHAM: This appeal by special leave is presented by the Attorney-General of Alberta against the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada dated 2nd December 1941, which answered certain questions concerning the constitutional validity of the Debt Adjustment Act, 1937, of the Province of Alberta as amended by five later Acts. These questions had been referred to the Supreme Court for hearing and consideration pursuant to S. 55, Supreme Court Act (Revised Statutes of Canada, 1927, chapter 35) by the Governor General in Council by an order made on 19th May 1941. The Supreme Court decided that the Act in question is ultra vires of the Legislature of Alberta. The Attorney-General for Saskatchewan as a respondent and the Attorneys-General for Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick as intervenants supported the appeal. Distress of a very serious nature was rife in Alberta and the adjoining Prairie Provinces from at any rate the year 1920, and divers statutes were passed in those Provinc...