Hereinafter, for convenience, the first suit O.S. No. 156 of 1944 will be referred to as the trust suit, and the second suit O.S. No. 164 of 1944 will be referred to as the succession suit, In the succession suit the main questions that arose for decision were: (1) whether the adoption of Ranganatha as a second adopted son was valid; (2) if not, whether the will was effective to convey the property of Periakaruppa to Ranganatha after the death of his wife Lakshmi Achi, notwithstanding the invalidity of his adoption; (3) whether, in case the will was ineffective the properties of Periakaruppa devolved on both Alagappa and his son junior Periakaruppa together or on Alagappa alone to the exclusion of junior Periakaruppa ; (4) if the devolution was on both together, whether the rights of junior Periakaruppa were barred by reason of section 7 of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 (Act IX of 1908).