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PETITIONER: GNANAMBAL AMMAL
Vs.
RESPONDENT: T. RAJU AYYAR AND OTHERS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 21/10/1950
BENCH: MUKHERJEA, B.K. BENCH: MUKHERJEA, B.K. FAZAL ALI, SAIYID AIYAR, N. CHANDRASEKHARA
CITATION: 1951 AIR 103 1950 SCR 949 CITATOR INFO : RF 1961 SC1302 (15)
ACT: Hindu law-- Will--Construction--General principles --Presumption against intestacy.
HEADNOTE: The cardinal maxim to be observed by courts in constru- ing a will is to endeavour to ascertain the infentions of the testator. This intention has to be gathered primarily from the language of the document which is to be read as a whole without indulging in any conjecture or speculation as to what the testator would have done if he had been better informed or better advised. The courts are however entitled and bound to bear in mind other matters than merely the words used. They must consider the surrounding circumstances, the position of the testator, his family relationship, the probability that he would use words in a particular sense, and many other things which are often summed up in the somewhat picturesque figure the court is entitled to put itself into the testator’s armchair ’. But all this is solely as an aid to arriving at a right construetion of the will, and to ascertain the meaning of the language when used by that particular testator in that document. As s...