Evidence Act S. 32(5)
In Mewa Singh v. Basant Singh AIR 1918 PC 49 the Privy Council made very apt and valuable observations regarding the manner in which a pedigree could be proved and pointed out that in order to succeed, the plaintiffs must bring themselves within fourteen degrees and in this connection observed thus :
“The oldest names in a pedigree are naturally the first to be learnt and the first to be recited, and the names of the earliest generations may well survive in their proper order long after all trustworthy memory of their lives has passed away.
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Those who claim to be the reversionary heirs must bring themselves within the necessary number of pedigrees viz. fourteen. They must show that they are both next heirs and near enough.”