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ties set out in the schedule on the ground that those and other properties belonged to the joint family of which they and their father Ramalingam Mudaliar were members, and to which they were entitled by survivorship on the death of Ramalingam. In Schedule 'B' to the plaint the first item was the business at Kolar Gold Fields. The claim was decreed by the trial court but the High Court reversed the decree and dismissed the suit. The Attorney-General submits that the judgment of the Mysore High Court was conclusive between the parties in respect of all matters adjudicated thereby and the Madras High Court in considering the claim of the plaintiffs in the suit before it was debarred from investigating whether the Kolar Gold Fields business was the separate property of Ramalingam. The issue as to the ownership of the Kolar Gold Fields business being directly adjudicated upon by the Mysore High Court, which was competent in an international sense as well as according to the municipal law of Mysore in that behalf, it was submitted, that adjudication was conclusive between the parties in the Madras suit. Reliance in support of this submission was placed upon the definition of foreign judgment' in s. 2 (9) of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, and the use of the expression ,'matter' in s. 13 of the Code. A foreign judgment is conclusive as to any matter directly adjudicated upon thereby; but it does not include the reasons for the judgment given by the foreign court. What is conclusive under s. 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure is the judgment, i.e., the final adjudication, and not the reasons Brijlal Ramjidas v. Govindram Gordhandas. (1). Section 13 in essence enacts a branch of the rule of res judicata in its relation to foreign judgments, but not every foreign judgment is made conclusive in the Indian Courts by s. 13. To be conclusive, (1) (1947) L.R. 74 I.A. 203.

The last question which falls to be determined is whether the estate devised under 'the will dated September 10, 1942, was the joint family estate of Ramalingam and his sons. If the estate belonged to the joint-family, the will was undoubtedly inoperative. Certain facts which have a bearing on this question and which are mainly undisputed may be set out. Vydialingam was an employee in the Mysore Subordinate Judicial service and drew a monthly salary rising from Rs. 75/- to Rs. 125/-. He worked fir,.it as a translator in the Mysore Chief Court. In 1898 he was appointed Sheristedar of the District Court at Shimoga and was later transferred to Bangalore. One Loganathan Mudaliar, a building contractor carrying on business at Kolar Gold Fields, was a close friend of Vydialingam. In 1896, Loganathan fell ill and after his illness took a serious turn in, 1898, he was unable to attend his business. Loganathan executed a will appointing Vydialingam and others as guardians of his children and also executors under his will, and died in 1900. Vydialingam was maintaining an account with the Cavalry Road Bank at Kolar Gold Fields since 1891. By 1895 substantial amounts were credited in that account of which the source could not be the meagre salary of Vydialingam. In the years 1896 and 1897, diverse amounts aggregating to the more than rupees one lakh were credited in that account. In May 1898 Vydialingam borrowed on his personal security from the Bank Rs. 2,000/- and gave it to Shanmugam, his eldest son. Shanmugam opened an account with the Cavalry Road Bank in October, 1899, by borrowing Rs. 25/-, but the entries in this account are few and for very small amounts. From the account maintained by the Mining Company it appears that the building construction work which was originally done by Loganathan. was later done by Shanmugani and since 1901 large amounts were paid to Shanmugam some of which were credited into the Cavalry Road Bank account. Since July 1904, some books of account maintained in the name of Shanmugam for business, household and, other expenses are available. About ;the year 1904, Devraj, the second son of Vydieolingam, started attending to a building contractor's business at Gadag. Ramalingam after ,.completing, his training in the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute at Bombay also took to that business. Vydialingam died in May 1905. He was then possessed of two houses which were orally directed by him to be given to Ramalingam. The three brothers continued to live jointly even after the death of Vydialingam and the household expenses were jointly incurred. In 1910 Ramalingam sold one of the two houses and received Rs. 4,000/-. 'On March 30, 1912, a deed of release was executed by Ramalingam and Devraj under which Devraj and Ramalingam each .received Rs. 2,5001- and the Kolar Gold Fields business was thereafter carried on apparently as a partnership business between Shanmugam and Ramalingam. Manavalem father-in-law of Devraj died in 1910, and Devra migrated to Madras and settled down, in that tow to attend to the business of his father-in-law Shortly after April 1912, Shanmugam proceeded ,to the United Kingdom. There is no clear evidence 'Whether he took part in; the business after he returned from his journey abroad. He continued to make withdrawals from his account in the business By 1961, he had overdrawn an amount exceeding Rs. 35,000/- which was written off. Thereafter he ceased to have any interest in the business Shanmugam died in 1924 and Devraj died in 1936.

To establish their case the plaintiffs relied upon the evidence of five witnesses-Kuppuswamy Mudaliar, Sitharain Naidu, Varadaraja Mudaliar, Venugopala Mudaliar and Dharmalingam, some of whom had been examined before the Court of the District Judge, Bangalore. By their evidence it was sought to prove that Vydialingarn did carry on in and before 1898 business as a building contractor at Kolar Gold Fields and that this business had on his death descended, to his sons. The plaintiffs also relied upon extracts from the accounts of Ramalingam and Shanmugam with the Cavalry Road Bank at Nandidurg, and the extracts from the accounts of the Nandidurg_ Mining Company recording payments made from time to time to Shanmugam some of which were credited in the account of Vydialingam with the Cavalry Road Bank. Reliance was also placed upon the entries in the books of account maintained in the name of Shanmugam from the year 1904 showing receipts from Davraj at Gadag and amounts debited as sent to Devraj at Gadag, collection of rent from the houses credited in that account, expenses debited for purposes connected with building construction' items showing that Devraj or Vydialingam had participated in those transactions and other entries of house-hold expenses showing that the account maintained in the name of Shanmugam was in truth the account of the joint- family. 'rho plaintiffs also relied upon certain letters written by Ramalingam and Devraj which from their terms evidenced their case' that they were not acting merely as agents of Shanmugam but as owners of the business. Reliance was also placed upon the testimony of one Masilamay Pillai, an Advocate (who later acted as a Judge of the Madras High Court), that in the arrangements made a few months before March 30, 1912, it was agreed that the goodwill of the Kolar Gold Fields business was allotted to Ramalingam. The learned trial Judge accepted the evidence of all the witness whose testimony was relied upon by the plaintiffs and held that the extracts Vydialingam's account established that he was carrying on business as a building contractor, and the books of account maintained in the name of Shanmugam were family accounts.

As a result of these entriesRs. 28,085-11-6 stood debited and Rs.25,689-11-4 stood credited in the account of Devraj. Counsel for the executors has not attempted to explain these entries. The trial Court thought that the credit entries represented payments made by Ramalingam to Devraj. There is no evidence in support of this view. The learned Judge appears to have thought that because the good will was agreed to be given to Ramalingam-that is how he read the evidence of Masilamany Pillai-Ramalingam became the owner of all its assets, and the account was since the date of the agreement in reality an account of Ramalingam. There is no warrant for this view. But the entries do show that large amounts were credited in the name of Devraj and debited, at the end of the year. If these entries were in respect of the Gadag business, the inference that the deed of release was only in respect of the separate estate of Shanmugan may receive some support. The conduct of Shanmugam subsequent to March 30, 1912, has also some bearing on this question. Shortly after the execution of the Release deed Shanmugam left for the United Kingdom and it is stated that he returned to India after more than a year.' It does not appear that thereafter he took any interest in the Kolar Gold Fields business but he continued to make large withdrawals. In the books of account of the partnership between Shanmugam and Ramalingam an amount exceeding Rs. 34,000/- is initially credited to Shanmugam and Rs. 7,500/. to Ramalingam. But what the shares of the two partners in the business were is nowhere indicated. There is no deed of partnership, nor is any balance sheet drawn. There is no evidence of division of profits of the business.' By 1916, Shanmugam had not only withdrawn the amount initially credited to him but he had withdrawn an additional amount of Rs. 35,538/12/-. He thereafter ceased to have any interest in the Kolar Gold Fields business and the amount overdrawn was written off debiting it to "premium account." This conduct may indicate that after March 30, 1912, Shanmugam had no interest in the business even though the books of account showed that it was a partnership business. Even if it be hold that Shanmugam was a partner in the business from April 1, 1910, to May 1, 1916, the inference is inevitable that the building contractors business carried on by Ramalingam thereafter was directly related the business inherited from Vydialingam. The circumstance that Shanmugam ceased to have any interest in the business, after overdrawing Re. 35,000/-odd, also corroborates the testimoney of Masilamany Pillai that goodwill of the business was given exclusively to Ramalingam. From this evidence it is clear that Shanmugam was unwilling to continue the joint family business at Kolar Gold Fields and that he desired to secure an assurance from his brothers that they had no interest in his separate business at Kalai and acquisitions thereof and for that purpose, the "Release deed" was obtained from them. The High Court held that the amount of Rs. 4,000/- received by Ramalingam by sale of the house and the amount of Rs. 2,500/- received from Shanmugam were put in the business by Ramalingam. Wajid deposed that the consideration received by sale of the house was given by Ramalingam to C. Savade & Co., and to his sister. In our view the High Court 'Was right in holding that the testimony of Wajid who has deposed that he was present at the time when Rs. 500/- were 'given by Ramalingam to his sister is not reliable, Wajid was a stranger to the family and there was no reason why Ramalingam should if the story be true keep Wajid present at the time of handing an amount of Rs, 500/- to his needy sister. The story of Wajid that Ramalingam was carrying on business of a building contractor in the name of Rambal and Co., and that in that business he suffered loss is not supported by any independent evidence and does not carry conviction.