WYAVASTHA DARPANA S07 II. In the case of Mahārājī Garur Nārāyan Deo of Pachete persue Ananda Lál Singh it being placed beyond all doubt that, by the ancient custom of this family, the reigning Rājā is succeeded by his eldest son, and that other sons as well as the minor branches of the family receive merely an, allowance for their subsistence, and further that the successor to the ráj has full power to annul, cancel alter, modify, or confirm the arrangements of his predecessor as to him may seem fit, the majority of the Court accordingly pronounced a decree in favour of the appellant (plaintiff) whose claim was to recover possession of a parganà granted by his predecessor. 14th February 1840. S. D. Rep. Vol. VI. p. 282. III. In the case of Har Lál Singh versus Jūrāwon Singh it was held that a ghātwāli mehal in Zillah Birbhūm, with reference to the usual practice and meaning of the term ghātwäl, is not divisible, on the death of an incumbent among his heirs, but should devolve entire on the eldest son, or the next ghdtwal” 19th June 1837. S. D. A. H. Vol. VI. p. 169. IV. In the case of Thākurái Chhattradhári Singh versus Thäkurái Tilakdhári Singh the succession by primogeniture to an ancestral estate in Chhotii Nâgpore was, agreeably to the family usage, upheld against a claim for division thereof under the Hindu law of inheritance. 22nd May 1839. S. D. A. R. Vol. VI. p. 260. V. In the case of an estate in Mámbhūm, it was held that, according to the previous family custom succession vested in the eldest son of the deceased Rājā born of any of his wives, in preference to the eldest son of his Pát Râni. Rājā Raghu Nāth Singh versus Rājā Harihar Singh. . 8th June 1843 S. D.A. R. Vol. VII. p. 126. - VI. The Kunwor or the second son of a Täjä, on the death of his eldest son, A. the Thdkur, made over the Parganá of Sonepore to A's sons. B. the Kunwör's younger son sued to participate. Held, that the Kunwor's eldest son, the Thdikur, was cntitled, agreeably to the family usage, to succeed to the gadi and to the entire estate, and B's claim was dismissed. Lālah Indranáth Sāhi Deo versus Thäkur . Kāshi Nāth Sāhī and others. 3rd Feb. 1845. Sudder Dewanny Adawlut Decisions, page 17. VII. It is no bar to the division amongst heirs of an estate, the property of a Hindu family, that it previously belonged to another family, in which the custom had obtained that the whole estate should pass to the eldest son. Gopāl Dás Sindh Mân Datta Mahāpātra versus Narotum Sindh and others. 26th. March 1845. S. D. A. R. Vol. VII. p. 195. VIII. In a suit for succession to a moicty of the estate of the Rājā of Tirhut, the claim was dismissed on the ground that the succession devolved upon the defendant, in virtue of a deed executed in his favor by the lato incumbent, such succession being in conformity with the long established usage of the family in which the title and estate had uniformly devolved entire for many generations. Mahārāj Kunwor Básudev Singh versus Mahārājāh Roodra Singh Bāhādur. 27th Feb. 1846. S. D. A. Vol. VII. R. p. 228. IX. Where, by the custom of a family, childless widows took no part of the inheritance, and an Ikrärndinah, executed by four brothers, who at the time owned the whole property, declaring the practice of the family as stated, was produced in evidence; it was held, that such childless widows were excluded from the inheritance. Rasik Lál Bhanja and others versus Parashmani. 9th. June 1847. S. D. A. Decisions, p. 205. X. The existence of a family usage, by which an estate descends to the eldest son of the proprietor will not preclude an eldest son from being bound personally to his brothers, by admissions formally made to them, acknowledging their right to co-heirship along with himself. Rājā Bishwa. Nâth Singh versus Râmcharan Majumdár. 16th February 1850, S. D. A. Decis. p. 20. But such admissions will not be valid against the eldest son, in favour of an alleged adopted son of one of his brothers, so as to bar inquiry on the pleas that there is also a family usage which precludes inheritance by adoption, and that the adoption, alleged to have been made, was otherwise not correct according to law. Ibid. 4
- But it seems that although the eldest will succeed to the ghagwatijands to the exclusion of the others, the latter are entitled to maintenance if they choose to stay and perform a ghostware duty. o
