Legal set-off requires an ascertained, properly pleaded claim with court-fee; uncertain claims may be refused.

A legal set-off must be pleaded in the written statement as an ascertained sum of money legally recoverable from the plaintiff, and court-fee is payable on the full amount claimed. A claim for commission based on reduction of losses was uncertain and required accounts, so it could not qualify as set-off; the separate claim for an ascertained amount was also not properly framed for legal set-off. Even if treated as an equitable set-off, the court could refuse it where the claim required a prolonged enquiry. The plea was therefore not maintainable in the suit, and the defendant was left to pursue a separate proceeding.

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Issues: Whether the defendant could claim the pleaded amounts as a legal set-off in the suit and whether the absence of proper court-fee justified refusal to entertain the set-off.

Analysis: A legal set-off must be presented in a written statement having the effect of a plaint and must relate to an ascertained sum of money legally recoverable by the defendant from the plaintiff. The claim for commission on reduction of losses was uncertain and would require accounts, so it was not an ascertained sum. The further claim for Rs. 2240 was an ascertained sum, but the pleadings did not establish it as properly available by way of legal set-off, and the court was entitled to refuse to entertain the set-off where it was not properly framed and no court-fee had been paid. Court-fee is payable on a set-off under the relevant court-fees provision, and the Court accepted that fee must be paid on the full amount of the set-off. Even if the plea were treated as an equitable set-off, it was discretionary and could be declined where determination of the claim required a prolonged enquiry.

Conclusion: The plea of set-off was not maintainable in the suit and the defendant was rightly relegated to a separate suit on those claims.

Final Conclusion: The revision failed, and the interlocutory order refusing to entertain the set-off was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A legal set-off must be for an ascertained sum properly pleaded with the requisite court-fee, while an equitable set-off lies in discretion and may be refused where the claim requires extensive enquiry.

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