In Brief
In a land consolidation dispute concerning inheritance rights, the appellants challenged a High Court ruling that allowed the writ petitioners to pursue their claim to a deceased's property. The core issue was whether an earlier judgment determining that the claimants were illegitimate sons barred their current claim under res judicata. The Supreme Court held that res judicata applies only when the cause of action and subject matter are identical. Here, involving different properties, the earlier judgment's factual findings (illegitimacy) bind the parties through issue estoppel, but its legal determination (that illegitimate sons cannot inherit) does not prevent the court from reconsidering that legal question. The court cannot be precluded from deciding pure questions of law correctly. The appeal was dismissed.
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