Indian Contract Act
Miss Shireen Mall vs John James Taylor on 21 December, 1951
Punjab-Haryana High Court Punjab-Haryana High Court Miss Shireen Mall vs John James Taylor on 21 December, 1951 Equivalent citations: AIR 1952 P H 277 Author: Soni Bench: Soni ORDER Soni, J. 1. This is an application by Shireen Mall under the provisions of Sections 18 and 19 of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869, read with Sections 3 and 4 of the Indian Matrimonial Causes (War Marriages) Act XL of 1948, praying that this Court may declare the marriage between her and the respondent to be null and void. 2. The facts as deposed to by the petitioner are that she was employed as a Sergeant in the Women's Auxiliary Corps (India) and was stationed at Meerut. In June 1943 she came to know the respondent John James Taylor, then a Lieutenant in the British Army. They fell in love with each other and he proposed to marry her. He was in Meerut from June 1943 till November 1943. The petitioner states that Taylor had repeatedly told her and had promised that alter they had been married they would live in England after his repatriation. Her point is that it was just a false promise. Many letters have been produced showing great affection by the respondent for the petitioner. My special attention was drawn by the counsel for the petitioner to a letter written by the respondent to the petitioner bearing date 26th November 1943 marked Ex. P. 7 in which the respondent Taylor, wrote to her thanking her for a present to his mother and telling her that he had told all about her to his mother in his letters. In this letter Ex. P. 7, it is stated: "She wants to meet you, she will, when we arrive home; you will come with me, won't you darling? Please sweet heart don't ever change your mind. I'd really finish everything if ever you did that." The petitioner's case is that the respondent's oral as well as written representations were such that the respondent appeared to her to be genuine in his proposal of marriage and in saying that
Punjab-Haryana High Court Punjab-Haryana High Court Miss Shireen Mall vs John James Taylor on 21 December, 1951 Equivalent citations: AIR 1952 P H 277 Author: Soni Bench: Soni ORDER Soni, J. 1. This is an application by Shireen Mall under the provisions of Sections 18 and 19 of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869, read with Sections 3 and 4 of the Indian Matrimonial Causes (War Marriages) Act XL of 1948, praying that this Court may declare the marriage between her and the respondent to be null and void. 2. The facts as deposed to by the petitioner are that she was employed as a Sergeant in the Women's Auxiliary Corps (India) and was stationed at Meerut. In June 1943 she came to know the respondent John James Taylor, then a Lieutenant in the British Army. They fell in love with each other and he proposed to marry her. He was in Meerut from June 1943 till November 1943. The petitioner states that Taylor had repeatedly told her and had promised that alter they had been married they would live in England after his repatriation. Her point is that it was just a false promise. Many letters have been produced showing great affection by the respondent for the petitioner. My special attention was drawn by the counsel for the petitioner to a letter written by the respondent to the petitioner bearing date 26th November 1943 marked Ex. P. 7 in which the respondent Taylor, wrote to her thanking her for a present to his mother and telling her that he had told all about her to his mother in his letters. In this letter Ex. P. 7, it is stated: "She wants to meet you, she will, when we arrive home; you will come with me, won't you darling? Please sweet heart don't ever change your mind. I'd really finish everything if ever you did that." The petitioner's case is that the respondent's oral as well as written representations were such that the respondent appeared to her to be genuine in his proposal of marriage and in saying that