On the other hand, in his work on Extraterritoriality Sir Francis Piggott, late Chief Justice of Hongkong and a jurist of considerable eminence, gives some very cogent reasoning to the effect that for the purposes of succession the English Courts would recognise the offspring of the union of, say, a Turkish man and woman as legitimate and entitled under the Statute of Distributions, while Professor Dicey regards the whole question as doubtful. certainly not as decided by Bethell's case or the matrimonial cases.
The Court of Appeal had little difficulty in over-ruling the appellants and they based their decision not on international comity, as Sir Benson Maxwell had done, but on the Charter, which he had refused to do. This charter was the third one of 1855.
The Six Widows' Case, however, added one new decision to the law relating to Chinese marriages. The Court held that a child legitimised per subsequens matrimonium according to Chinese law is legitimate and entitled to share in the two-thirds share which the Statute of Distributions gives to the children of a deceased intestate. In doing so the Court followed the well-known English case of In re Goodman's Trusts, L.R. 17 Ch. Div. 267, where a child similarly legitimised under Dutch law was held to be legitimate and entitled to share under the Statute in English property.
It now remains to notice the last two cases in the Colony, those of Ngai Lau Shia vs. Low Chee Neo in Singapore and Cheang Thye Phin vs. Tan Ah Loy in Penang, in both of which the author appeared as counsel for the claimant ladies, both here and in the Privy Council. Neither case is as yet locally reported but the decision of the Privy Council will he found in the Law Reports 1920 A.C. 369.
Ngai Lan Shia claimed to be a lawful daughter of the late Mr. Low Kim Pong, a wealthy Singapore merchant: she had attempted to prove a ceremony between the deceased and her mother as a t'sai but the evidence was disbelieved. It was then argued on her behalf that her mother should be presumed to have been a t'sip of the deceased from cohabitation and repute, in which she succeeded, the Court holding that such a presumption may be made upon proper evidence. It also decided that the Courts here will now take judicial notice of the fact that the Chinese are a polygamous race.
Tan Ah Loy claimed to be presumed to be a t'sip of the late Mr. Cheang Ah Quee, the last Captain China of Perak. She failed to prove a ceremony of any sort and Mr. Registrar Gibson found against her. as he was unaware of the decision in Ngai Lau Shia's case and thought that the Six Widows' Case had decided that some ceremony was necessary to constitute a proper secondary marriage. Her claim was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council both of which held that no proof of a ceremony is essential, and presumed for her a marriage as a t'sip from cohabitation and repute.
