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Judgment
This is an application by the plaintiff in S.C.S. 97 of 1907 in the District Court of Nellore to revise the judgment of the District Judge. The suit is
to recover from the defendants a sum of Rs. 349-8-0 on a pronote executed by them in favour of the plaintiff in 1906. The defendants pleaded that
there was no consideration for the note ; that they had instituted a suit O.S. No. 281 of 1907 in the District Munsif''s Court of Nellore for the
cancellation of the note, and that the suit was therefore not maintainable. It appears from the B Form Diary that the suit was adjourned pending the
decision of the Munsif in O.S. 281 of 1907, and that, after the Munsif''s decision of the suit declaring the pronote not enforceable against the
defendant this suit was dismissed. The judgment of the District Judge states :""Both parties represented in this court that they would abide by the
decree of the District Munsif of Nellore in O. Section 281 of 19O7 on his file in regard to the question raised in this case."" The question referred to
in this sentence seems to be whether the pronote was unenforceable on the ground that it was not supported by any consideration. Unfortunately,
there is no written record of the representation by the parties except what appears in the judgment, Nor are the parties agreed as to what exactly
the representation was. The plaintiff says that the agreement between the parties was that the question in dispute should be decided in accordance
with the final judgment of the matter in O. Section 281 of 1907 on the file of the District Munsit of Nellore, which was capable of being carried up
on appeal to the District Court and finally to this court. The defendants, on the other hand, contended that the decision of the District Munsif in O,
Section 281 of 1907 was to be accepted as binding between the parties in the Small Cause Court. In the view we take of the case, we think it
unnecessary to decide which of these statements is correct. It may be noted that the decision of the Munsif in O. Section 281 of 1907 was
reversed by the District Court on appeal and the pronote was held to be binding on the defendants; and the second appeal against the District
Judge''s judgment was dismissed by this court.
The question argued in this revision petition at the hearing was,-assuming that the plaintiff had originally represented that the case might be
decided in accordance with the decision of the Munsif in O.S. 281 of 1907, whether he thereby disentitled himself to ask subsequently that it
should be decided by the District Judge on the merits. We are not at present concerned with the question of what legal effect, apart from any
agreement between the parties, the judgment of the Munsif in O. Section 281 of 1907 or the final appellate judgment in that case would have upon
the controversy in the small cause suit. We haye come to the conclusion that the defendants were not entitled to insist on the representation
originally made by the parties as a bar to the plaintiff''s right to the trial of the small cause suit. The agreement in question cannot be regarded as an
adjustment of the subject-matter of the suit by a lawful agreement or compromise. The agreement did not settle the dispute, but postponed the
settle-meat and purported to authorise the court to settle it in a certain manner. A compromise has been defined as "" a mutual agreement between
two or more persons at difference, to put an end to such difference, upon certain terms agreed upon"" (Burrill''s Dict. quoted in 8 American
Cyclopaedia of Law and Procedure., p. 501). It must be an agreement which one of the parties can insist on the court enforcing against the will of
the other. Can it be said in this case that one of the parties could insist on the court postponing the small cause suit till the District Munsif''s decision
in O. Section 281 of 1907 ? We think not. The ordinary rule is that, when the court is ''seized'' of a case, it has jurisdiction to decide it in the
manner prescribed by law, and that parties have no right to interfere with its authority to do so. There are, no doubt, well understood exceptions to
this rule, but where the exceptions do not apply, the rule must prevail. Notwithstanding the pendency of a suit, the parties may settle their disputes
as they like by any lawful arrangement, and the court is then bound to give effect to the settlement. Again, they may ask the court to refer the
questions in dispute to an arbitrator, in which case though the decision of the cause is primarily transferred to another tribunal, the court will retain
some control over the proceedings. The parties may also enter into an agreement making the oath of one of them conclusive evidence of all or any
of the facts in issue between them. This again is subject to the control of the court.
The present case does not fall within any of these exceptions. Our attention is not drawn to any rule or principle which would compel a party to
adhere to any agreement by him that the suit may be decided in a manner different from that prescribed by law. For instance, we do not think that
if a litigant agreed that the Judge might decide the suit in the manner that a certain individual might advise, such an agreement would bind him. In
Rukhmanbai v. Adamji ILR (1908) 33 Bom. 69. Beaman J. held that an agreement that certain disputes relating to the accounts between the
parties in the case should be decided by the Assistant Commissioner in a summary manner without going into formal evidence beyond the
accounts, objections and surcharges filed before him"" was not binding. The learned Judge observes that it did not amount to an adjustment or
compromise and that the agreement not being in writing would not constitute a binding reference to arbitration. He elaborately discusses the
question whether an agreement to refer to arbitration and to be bound by the award passed by an arbitrator can be treated as amounting to a
compromise and expresses disinclination to accept as sound, the decisions cited before him in support of the position that such an agreement
would amount to an adjustment or compromise when an award had been passed by the arbitrator. We consider it unnecessary to express any
opinion on this question, as it is clear that the agreement in the present case cannot be treated as a reference of the dispute in the small cause suit to
the arbitration of the Munsif who was trying O. Section 281 of 1907. In Moyan v. Pathukutti ILR (1907) 31 M. I an agreement by the plaintiff to
take a certain oath and to have his suit dismissed, if he failed to do so, was regarded as not binding on him. We hold that the agreement in question
in this case did not deprive the plaintiff of his right to have the suit decided on the merits. We therefore reverse the decision of the Judge and
remand the suit to the District Munsif of Nellore to be disposed of by him according to law, as a regular original suit. The costs of this petition will
abide the result.