Second appeal jurisdiction requires substantial questions of law to be framed at admission; later questions need notice and recorded reasons.

Section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure confines a second appeal to substantial questions of law formulated by the High Court at admission, and any additional question must be framed at the hearing with recorded reasons. The Supreme Court held that the High Court acted without jurisdiction by deciding the appeal on two questions framed only in the judgment, rather than on the six questions originally admitted, because the parties were denied notice and an opportunity to address them. That procedural breach vitiated the appellate decision, so the impugned judgment was set aside and the matter remanded for fresh decision on merits in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the High Court, in a second appeal, could decide the matter on questions of law not formulated at the time of admission and without following the procedure mandated by Section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Analysis: Section 100 of the Code confines the jurisdiction in second appeal to substantial questions of law formulated by the High Court at the stage of admission, and the appeal must be heard on those questions. If the High Court proposes to take up any additional substantial question of law, it must do so at the time of hearing and record reasons for doing so. In this case, the High Court did not decide the appeal on the six questions originally framed at admission and instead founded its judgment on two additional questions framed only in the judgment itself. That course deprived the parties of notice and an opportunity to address those questions and did not conform to the mandatory requirements of Section 100.

Conclusion: The High Court's judgment suffered from jurisdictional error and could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was allowed, the impugned judgment was set aside, and the matter was remanded to the High Court for fresh decision on merits in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: A second appeal can be decided only on substantial questions of law formulated in accordance with Section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and any additional question must be framed at the hearing with reasons recorded; failure to do so vitiates the appellate decision.

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