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42. If some-one asserts that to a particular property held by a
sovereign the legal incidents of sovereignty do not apply, it will
have to be pleaded and established by him that the said property
was held by the sovereign not as a sovereign but in some other
capacity. In the instant case apart from asserting that the
properties in suit belonged to a joint family and Respondent No. 1
even though a sovereign ruler, held them as the head of the family
to which the property belonged, the appellant has neither
specifically pleaded nor produced any convincing evidence in
support of such an assertion. It has been urged on behalf of the
appellant that only the eldest male off-spring of the Attingal Ranis
could, by custom, be the ruler and all the heirs of the Ranis who
constituted joint Hindu family would be entitled to a share in the
properties of the Ranis and the properties in suit were held by
Respondent No. 1 as head of the tarwad even though impartible in
his hands. This plea has been repelled by the trial court as well as
by the High Court and nothing convincing has been brought to our
notice on the basis of which the presumption canvassed on behalf
of the appellant could be drawn and the findings of the courts
below reversed."