Privy Council Court May 1946 Judgments

Harmes and Another Vs. Hinkson

Court: Privy Council

Lord du Paroq: On 4th April 1941, one George Harmes died at the Grey Nun's Hospital in the city of Regina. Two days later, Mr. Hinkson, the respondent to this appeal to His Majesty in Council, brought to the manager of the Canada Permanent Trust Company at its office in Regina a document which purported to be the will of George Harmes. It was dated 3rd April 1941, and named the Trust Company as executor. On 2nd May 1941, a petition was presented by the Trust Company, as executor to the Surrogate Court of the Judicial District of Regina praying that the will might be proved in solemn form. Its validity had been challenged by the next of kin, one of whom, Paul Harmes, is the first named appellant. The others, who lived in Greece, were represented in the ensuing proceedings by the second appellant, the Custodian of Enemy Property. In due course an order was made directing a trial to determine the validity of the will, and in particular the following issues: (a) the testamentary capacity o...

Thiruvenkata Ramanuja Pedda Jiyyangarlu Valu Vs. Prathivathi Bhayankar ...

Court: Privy Council

Lord Macmillan: Their Lordships address themselves in this appeal to the consideration of a controversy which in one form or another has agitated the Hindu religious community in the Presidency of Madras for upwards of two centuries. The main question between the parties relates to the right to regulate the conduct of the services in an important group of temples. To the understanding of the issue a short historical survey is essential. [2] According to the Hindu creed the Deity manifests Himself in three aspects as Brahma, the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Siva, the Destroyer and Renovator. Those who are devoted to the worship of the Deity in His aspect as Vishnu are known as Vaishnavas and there are many temples, especially in Southern India, dedicated to the worship of Vishnu and known as Vaishnavite temples. The earliest Scriptures, dating from 2,500 years ago, are the Sanskrit Vedas or hymns, held sacred by all Hindus. A further series of sacred writings known as Prabandham...

Kelani Valley Motor Transit Co., Ltd. Kelani Valley Motor Transit Co. ...

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1946PC137

Sir John Beaumont: This is an appeal by special leave from the judgment of the Supreme Court of Ceylon dated 21st June 1943, reversing a majority decision of the Tribunal of Appeal constituted under the Motor Car Ordinance (45 [XLV] of 1938) which had affirmed an order of the Commissioner of Motor Transport, dated 13th January 1943, granting to the appellant and refusing the respondent an exclusive road service licence under the Omnibus Service Licensing Ordinance (17 [XLVII] of 1942) for the route from Colombo to Ratnapura. The question at issue is whether the appellant or the respondent at the material date held the greater number of licences authorising the use of omnibuses on the route Colombo to Ratnapura, and the answer to that question depends upon whether the only licences to be reckoned under the relevant legislation are those confined to the route Colombo to Ratnapura as the respondent contends, or whether licences covering the whole of that route and also some further distan...

Emperor Vs. Vimlabai Deshpande

Court: Privy Council

Sir John Beaumont: This is an appeal by special leave from an order of the High Court of Judicature at Nagpur made on 29th September 1944. See ('45) 32 AIR 1945 Nag. 8. The order was made, by the High Court in purported exercise of the powers conferred on it by S. 491, Criminal P. C., which enables High Courts to take action in the nature of habeas corpus. The order directed that respondent 2, Purshottam Yeshwant Desphande, (hereinafter called "the detenu"), should be set at liberty forthwith on the ground that his detention was illegal. In granting special leave to appeal, the Board imposed the two following conditions : (l) That the detenu should not in any event be re-arrested in respect of the matters to which the appeal relates, and (2) that the petitioner should pay the costs as between solicitor and client incurred by the respondents both in opposing the petition and in the appeal. [2] At the outset counsel for the respondents contended that no appeal was competent. That such a ...

Beninson and Others Vs. Shiber

Court: Privy Council

Lord du Parcq: The appellants are the three daughters and sole heiresses of the late Mrs. Menucha Valero, widow of Jacob Valero. Mrs. Valero died on 5th March 1933. At the end of the year 1928 she had entered into an agreement with the respondent, under which he was to build an apartment house for her, and to provide the necessary money to pay for its erection. The obligation which she then incurred had been met only in part at the time of her death and, during her lifetime, the original building contract was followed by a series of complicated transactions culminating in an agreement which purported to settle accounts finally between Mrs. Valero and the respondent. In the result, it is admitted by the appellants that there is due to the respondent the sum of LP1298.416. The respondent claims a much larger sum, but in the District Court did not succeed in recovering more than the amount which was admittedly due. He appealed to the Supreme Court, where it was held that he was entitled t...

Babu Kailash Chandra JaIn Vs. Secretary of State

Court: Privy Council

Morton L. J: These consolidated appeals are from three decrees of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, dated 27th November 1941, affirming three decrees of the Court of the Improvement Trust Tribunal, Allahabad, dated 27th April 1934, whereby, in respect of the compulsory acquisition of certain lands and buildings belonging to the appellant, he was awarded as compensation certain sums of money. The appellant contends that the sums awarded to him by the Tribunal were insufficient, in that they did not include any compensation for the acquisition of the following four pieces of land: (1) the garden of House No. 8, Mohalla Chak, Allahabad; (2) 504 square yards of parti land with enclosure wall known as No. 82, Mohalla Chah-Chand, Allahabad; (3) land with a long shed on one side of it known as No. 13, Mohalla Mahajani Tola, Allahabad; (4) parti land No. 22, Mohalla Mahajani Tola, Allahabad. The appellant further contends that the Tribunal, relying upon the Full Bench decision of the ...

Thakur Jagannath Baksh Singh Vs. the United Provinces

Court: Privy Council

Lord Wright: The appellant, who is the taluqdar of Bhawanshahpur, brought his action in the Court of the Civil Judge, Sultanpur, Oudh, claiming a declaration that the United Provinces Tenancy Act, 1939, is either ultra vires or not intra vires of the Provincial Legislature, either in its entirety or at least as regards the provisions, about 42 in number, scheduled to the complaint. His claim failed before the Judge; he then appealed to the Federal Court of India, which dismissed the appeal but granted leave to appeal to this Board. [2] The appellant is the direct descendant of Babu Sitla Baksh Singh, who was grantee of a Sanad from the Governor-General after the Indian Mutiny of 1857. By this Sanad the Crown granted to the appellant's predecessor in title the full proprietary rights, the permanent heritable and transferable rights in the ancestral estate which were confirmed by the Oudh Estates Act (no. 1[I] of 1869). That Act contains entries of the name of the appellant's predecessor...