DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4646#0008
'
8
tlie Mohamedan docti-ineand discipline of, ov received or acknowledged
by the said sect, was derived from, and in conformity with, the teach-
ing of the said Suni School. And it hath always been, and is-, a
principal and fundamental condition of the tenure by which the said
trust estate is held ; that the application thereof shall always be for
the promotion of the faith and discipline of Islam, according to the
Suni School ; and not according to the Shea School thereof ; the lat-
ter having been always regarded by the founders, donors, and sub-
scribers, and by the said Khojah sect at large, as altogether heterodox
and heretical, and still being so regarded by the said sect (except,
such only as have, in the course of the last year and in manner here-
after appearing, been induced to secede to the same." Recollecting
that this was the uncompromising prayer of the Plaintiffs, I must
say it was with astonishment, which increased on each occasion, that
I heard my learned friend, Mr. Scoble—who I think made use of the
argument no less than fifteen times—say, that by Act XXI. of 1850,
no Khojah could be deprived of his interest in the property of the caste
on account of having changed his religion. Whatever the value of
that argument may be, and I don't think it is worth much, at all
events it is easy to see that it really operates against the Plaintiffs.
3 My learned friend's case is, that it is the Defendants, not the Plaintiffs,
, who have changed their religion; and according to his view of the law,
(■ that portion of the prayer which prays for the expulsion of those
3 Khojahs who have adopted the Shea religion must, of necessity, be dis-
i missed by the Court as contrary to the spirit of the Religious Disa-
1 bilities Act. But the Advocate General has already disposed of the
s point, by showing, that the Act has nothing to do 'with quarrels
about caste property ; and I merely refer to the matter, because this
E is one sign among several, that my learned friends have not yet come
< ^ to an understanding as to what their case is to be.
( Now, as to the prayer, that the majority inpossession may be turned
out of the caste, I will only say, that a very strong case must be made
r out to induce the Court to interfere. Of course, I admit, that if it
1 . could be clearly shown that the caste property was established, as we
( find some trusts in England established, for the promotion of certain
defined doctrines and objects, and that the Defendants certainly do not
hold such doctrines as were intended to be promoted, then, I say, I
grant, the Plaintiffs, though ever so small a majority, would have the
power to turn the majority out.
8
tlie Mohamedan docti-ineand discipline of, ov received or acknowledged
by the said sect, was derived from, and in conformity with, the teach-
ing of the said Suni School. And it hath always been, and is-, a
principal and fundamental condition of the tenure by which the said
trust estate is held ; that the application thereof shall always be for
the promotion of the faith and discipline of Islam, according to the
Suni School ; and not according to the Shea School thereof ; the lat-
ter having been always regarded by the founders, donors, and sub-
scribers, and by the said Khojah sect at large, as altogether heterodox
and heretical, and still being so regarded by the said sect (except,
such only as have, in the course of the last year and in manner here-
after appearing, been induced to secede to the same." Recollecting
that this was the uncompromising prayer of the Plaintiffs, I must
say it was with astonishment, which increased on each occasion, that
I heard my learned friend, Mr. Scoble—who I think made use of the
argument no less than fifteen times—say, that by Act XXI. of 1850,
no Khojah could be deprived of his interest in the property of the caste
on account of having changed his religion. Whatever the value of
that argument may be, and I don't think it is worth much, at all
events it is easy to see that it really operates against the Plaintiffs.
3 My learned friend's case is, that it is the Defendants, not the Plaintiffs,
, who have changed their religion; and according to his view of the law,
(■ that portion of the prayer which prays for the expulsion of those
3 Khojahs who have adopted the Shea religion must, of necessity, be dis-
i missed by the Court as contrary to the spirit of the Religious Disa-
1 bilities Act. But the Advocate General has already disposed of the
s point, by showing, that the Act has nothing to do 'with quarrels
about caste property ; and I merely refer to the matter, because this
E is one sign among several, that my learned friends have not yet come
< ^ to an understanding as to what their case is to be.
( Now, as to the prayer, that the majority inpossession may be turned
out of the caste, I will only say, that a very strong case must be made
r out to induce the Court to interfere. Of course, I admit, that if it
1 . could be clearly shown that the caste property was established, as we
( find some trusts in England established, for the promotion of certain
defined doctrines and objects, and that the Defendants certainly do not
hold such doctrines as were intended to be promoted, then, I say, I
grant, the Plaintiffs, though ever so small a majority, would have the
power to turn the majority out.