Partnership loss-sharing follows admitted profit shares unless a contrary agreement is proved by the party asserting the exception.

In a partnership, unequal profit shares admitted by the parties give rise to the ordinary presumption that losses are borne in the same proportion, unless a special agreement proves otherwise. That presumption is supported by the evidentiary rule placing the burden on the party asserting an exception to establish it. Where defendants claimed they were exempt from sharing losses but produced no supporting evidence, they failed to displace the presumption, and liability for losses was sustained in the pleaded proportions.

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Issues: Whether, in a partnership where unequal shares in profits were pleaded and admitted, the losses were also to be borne in the same proportions and whether the burden lay on the defendants to prove a special agreement exempting them from sharing losses.

Analysis: Section 253(2) of the Contract Act embodies the presumptions that, in the absence of a specific contract, partners share profits equally and contribute to losses equally; where unequal profit shares are admitted, the ordinary inference is that losses are shared in the same proportion. That inference is supported by the general principle reflected in Section 114 of the Evidence Act. Since the defendants asserted a special arrangement that they were not liable for losses, the burden was on them to establish that exceptional term. Having chosen not to adduce evidence in support of that plea, they failed to displace the ordinary presumption.

Conclusion: The defendants bore the burden of proving a special agreement excluding loss-sharing, and in the absence of such proof the decree fastening liability for losses in the pleaded proportions was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed because the ordinary rule of partnership applied and the challenged decree was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: In a partnership, where unequal profit shares are admitted, losses are presumed to be shared in the same proportion unless a special agreement to the contrary is proved, and the burden of proving that exception lies on the party asserting it.

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