Joint and indivisible decree abatement prevents surviving appellants from pursuing merits after non-substitution of a necessary party.

An appeal based on a common, joint and indivisible decree abates in its entirety if the legal representatives of a deceased necessary appellant are not brought on record within the prescribed time. Because the liability of the sureties was jointly determined and the controversy could not be severed without risking inconsistent decrees, the surviving appellants could not continue the matter on merits. The decree against the deceased appellant became final, and the appeal was dismissed as not properly constituted after his death, leaving the impugned order undisturbed.

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Issues: Whether the appeal had abated in entirety because the legal representatives of one appellant were not brought on record within time, and whether the surviving appellants could still prosecute the appeal on the merits.

Analysis: The appeal arose from a common adjudication against all sureties on grounds that were not separable. Since one appellant died and his legal representatives were not impleaded within the time allowed by the Supreme Court Rules, the appeal stood defective and the decree against the deceased appellant became final. Proceeding with the appeal by the surviving appellants would have exposed the Court to the risk of passing an inconsistent order in a matter where the liability was jointly determined and the controversy was not capable of partial reversal without affecting the finality already attached to the deceased appellant's position. The rules governing substitution and abatement under the Supreme Court Rules, read with the principles governing joint and indivisible decrees, required dismissal of the appeal as a whole.

Conclusion: The appeal had abated in its entirety and could not be heard on merits by the surviving appellants.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the decree failed because the appeal was not properly constituted after the death of one appellant, leaving the impugned order undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a decree or order proceeds on a common, joint and indivisible basis and the appeal abates qua one necessary appellant or respondent, the appellate court cannot proceed to decide the surviving appeal if doing so would risk inconsistent decrees or modify the final adjudication against the deceased party.

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