TAN SENG GUAN v TEE BA @ TEE SIEW PEE

Case Significance

Illustrates the striking out of a long-dormant, unregistered trust claim over land on grounds of the defendant's indefeasible title and expiry of the twelve-year limitation period under section 9(1) of the Limitation Act 1953.

This High Court decision at Johor Bahru concerns the striking out of a claim asserting that land was held on trust, on the grounds of an unsustainable cause of action and the expiry of limitation. The plaintiff had sought declarations that the defendant held three parcels of land in Pontian, Johor on trust for him and that he was the beneficial owner, and the defendant applied to strike out the entire claim under Aturan 18 Kaedah 19(1)(a), (b) dan (d) Kaedah-Kaedah Mahkamah 2012 (Order 18 rule 19(1)(a), (b) and (d) of the Rules of Court 2012). The court applied the principle in Bandar Builder Sdn Bhd v United Malayan Banking Corporation Bhd that the striking-out power is exercised only in plain and obvious cases. On the trust claim, the court held that the alleged trust over the land had not been established: there was no written evidence of a trust, no endorsement of the defendant as trustee, and no registration of any trust under section 344 of the National Land Code, and the plaintiff had taken no action and lodged no caveat for more than two decades after the transfer, so that the defendant's title was indefeasible, applying Low Tin Yong @ Low Yong Lian v Low Yong Thua. On limitation, the court held that any claim to recover the land was time-barred under section 9(1) of the Limitation Act 1953, reasoning that a right left unused for a long period is presumed no longer to exist and that matters of right should not be left in prolonged uncertainty. The court was satisfied that the defendant was the beneficial owner and, in respect of one parcel, a co-owner, that the plaintiff could not dispute that title, and that the action disclosed an unreasonable cause of action amounting to an abuse of process. It accordingly upheld the striking out with costs of RM5,000. The judgment is a useful illustration of an unregistered, long-dormant trust claim over land being struck out on indefeasibility and limitation grounds.