Section 41 codifies what was once treated as a principle in equity which the Judicial Committee had recognised in Ram coomar vs Macqueen,.(1) wherein the Judicial Committee observed as under: "It is a principle of natural equity which must be universally applicable that, where one man allows another to hold himself out as the owner of an estate and a third person purchases it, for value, from the apparent owner in the belief that (1) (1872) I.A. 11 Bengal L.R. 46.438 he is the real owner, the man who so allows the other to hold himself out shall not be permitted to recover upon his secret title, unless he can overthrow that of the purchaser by showing either that he had direct notice, or something which amounts to constructive notice, of the real title; or that there existed circumstances which ought to have put him upon an inquiry that, if prosecuted would have led to a discovery of it ' In this case the father of the plaintiff throughout acted in relation to others as the owner of the property though the plaintiff was the real owner of the property.