A Bellary liquor contractor died without a will, his brother claimed the estate as a Hindu joint family, and the Privy Council asked how the family lived

Matthew Abraham was an Indian Roman Catholic of modest origins who grew rich from the liquor contract, arms trading and moneylending in Bellary and Kurnool. The family distanced itself from its Paraiyar (Dalit) ancestry. He married Charlotte Fox, whose father was English, and the household lived in the Anglo-Indian style. Their eldest son studied at Queens' College, Cambridge. When Matthew died without a will on 10 July 1842, he left assets worth more than 300,000 rupees. His younger brother Francis ran the business. Francis argued that he and Matthew, as men of "pure native blood," had been undivided brothers of a Hindu family, so he was now head of the household and Charlotte was entitled only to maintenance. Charlotte said English law applied and Francis was a hired agent. She sued in May 1854. The Bellary court found for her; the Madras appeal court found for Francis. On 13 June 1863 Lord Kingsdown of the Privy Council held that the law follows the way a family actually lives. Charlotte and her son Daniel received all the property Matthew had acquired, and Francis received half the distillery profits since Matthew's death for his work. The historian Chandra Mallampalli wrote a book on the case in 2011.