TMI Blog1861 (11) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rom generation to generation; in other words, whether the Persian words which now appear on the face of the sunnud, and import the addition in question, have, as the Respondents contend, been fraudulently substituted for other words, or, as the Appellants insist, have always formed part of the document. On the former hypothesis the tenure would, as the law has been settled by a course of decisions, commencing at latest in the year 1817, have determined with the life of Lalla Hoonooman Dutt. The addition of words importing from generation to generation, would make the grant one of a perpetual lease to Lalla Hoonooman Dutt and his heirs. The further addition of the other words in question would, of course, make it one to him and his brothers jointly, and to their respective heirs. Lalla Hoonooman Dutt had two brothers, Gumess Dutt and Mahadeo Dutt; and some time in 1806 or 1807 a partition of the property comprised in the sunnud was made between the three, by or with the sanction of their father, Roy Prithee Singh. He died in 1839. His son, Lalla Hoonooman Dutt, certainly pre-deceased him, and though the precise date of his death is not clearly proved, there seems no reason to dou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s of 1841 by way of appeal to the Sudder Adawlut, and of remand to the Court below, and in the course of the litigation Moodnarain Singh appears to have raised, by petition of amendment, some new issues founded on the appearance of the sunnud. The three suits, however, seem to have been finally disposed of by the decree of the Sudder Ameen, dated the 17th of June, 1846. The effect of the decision was that, the Plaintiff was entitled to some arrears of Mocurrery rent, though to considerably less than the amount claimed by him, and that he had shown no ground in those suits for the cancellation of the tenure. 4. From 1846 to 1851, Moodnarain Singh took no step; in June of the latter year he commenced the present suit, which embraces the representatives of all the three sons of Roy Prithee Singh, and is for the recovery of the whole property comprised in the sunnud, with mesne profits since 1842, and for the cancellation of the sunnud, as spurious. 5. His case, so far as it is necessary to state it, is that the sunnud, as granted by his father was a grant of a Mocurrery Istemrary lease to Lalla Hoonooman Dutt alone, and, therefore, that the tenure legally determined on Lalla Hoo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... On appeal this decision was reversed by the Sudder Adawlut, which held that there had been a fraudulent alteration of the terms of the Sunnud, and decreed in favour of the Plaintiff. On a second hearing of the case upon a petition for review of judgment, the Court adhered to its former decision, and rejected some fresh evidence that was tendered on the part of the Appellants. The propriety of that rejection is not now questioned, but against the substance of the decree of the Sudder Adawlut, the present appeal is preferred. 10. The decision of the Sudder Court rests entirely on the evidence which, in the opinion of the Judges, the inspection of the document and the consideration of its contents afforded of the falsity of the explanation of its suspicious appearance given by the Appellants. Their judgment affords no ground for concluding that the corroborative proofs in support of the Appellant's case had been duly presented to the Court, and overruled by them. Their Lordships, however, think this case cannot be properly decided without weighing the whole evidence on either side, and applying the presumptions from conduct thence fairly arising, to the consideration of the opp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r and ink seems to render so perfect an erasure so improbable, that success in the attempt is not readily to be conjectured. Yet the fact of alteration by erasure is essential to the Respondent's case. 14. Again, the addition of a plural termination to the pronoun khud an addition totally unnecessary on either theory of the original import of the instrument, is capable of being attributed to either side. If a falsifier of this instrument had grammatical skill enough to see the propriety of converting the singular nouns and verbs into the plural, it is reasonable to suppose that he would know, as their Lordships believe to be the case, that the pronoun khud was applicable to either number. To add a plural inflection to it would be to impose upon himself in that place an additional difficulty. The existence of a single noun in the singular where the strict sense required it to be in the plural would, in a case unattended with suspicion, naturally be ascribed to oversight or ignorance, or to the use of a singular noun in a collective sense. The word Mocurredar remains in this instrument in the singular where the plural termination an should have been added. This, it was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Court. Again, if the alteration was made before its production in 1842, the document must then have presented appearances even more suspicious than those which it now presents; since the lapse of eighteen years, and frequent manipulations in Court, must have tended to soften rather than to aggravate the marks of tampering. Those appearances could hardly have escaped the attention of one conversant with the Persian language who then examined the instrument. The Sudder Ameen, however (a Mussulman by his name, and, therefore, presumably the more conversant with Persian), has in a solemn proceeding declared, that he did carefully peruse the paper when it was produced, that it did not present the appearances which it afterwards presented, and that, if these had then existed, he must have observed and would have recorded their existence. He added that his attention to this part of his duty was well-known. The Solicitor-General sought to avoid the effect of this statement by suggesting that the Sudder Amcen, conscious of having neglected his duty, sought to avoid responsibility by stoutly asserting its performance, and throwing blame upon an innocent subordinate, his Record-keeper. It i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ds. 19. It is consistent with the habits of men of his rank to attend to and have a knowledge of their affairs, and to hold a sort of domestic forum for the transaction of business in their Cutcherries. The grant of a Mocurrery Istemrary lease to the son, or sons of the Dewan, and probably in recognition of his services, was an act likely to take place with some pomp and publicity. The terms of the grant would be notorious to many; they are not likely to have soon slipped from the memory either of the Maharajah or of those of his dependants to whom they were known. Yet when we come to test the truth of the conflicting statements as to those terms by the presumptions arising from the conduct and acts of both families, what do we find ? Their Lordships would not lay much stress on the mere fact that some of the family of Roy Prithee Singh continued in the enjoyment of the tenure after the death of Hoonooman Dutt. This, though prima facie inconsistent with the Respondents' case, might be referred to the favour shown by the Maharajah to the family of the Dewan. But in 1807, when the grant was still comparatively recent, we have the partition between the sons of Roy Prithee Singh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ul whether any such can fairly be drawn), may be set the presumption arising from the non-production of the Kaboolyet by the opposite party. The actors in the original transaction are all long since dead, and the Respondent is seeking to recover the property from those who have been for many years in the enjoyment of it. In any view of the case, he has been guilty of great laches in the assertion of his alleged rights. The difficulties (if any) which arise from the loss of evidence, and the other consequences of lapse of time ought, in justice, to fall on him. 24. It is essential to his case to establish that the original grant was to Lalla Hoonooman Dutt alone, and for life only. The weight of the evidence, independently of the disputed sunnud, seems to their Lordships to be against this allegation, and in favour of the title insisted upon by the Appellants; that preponderance of proof is also necessarily in favour of the Appellants' theory of the alteration of the document. 25. The copy of the lease, verified by the Cazi's seal, cannot be treated as any corroboration of the Appellants' case, as there is a total absence of evidence concerning the time, mode, and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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