Hasbullah bin Adam

On the judicial record

A High Court judge whose reported corpus is dominated by subordinate-court appeals — road-traffic liability, prosecution appeals against acquittals, and civil disputes — much of it in Bahasa Malaysia.

Justice Hasbullah bin Adam sits in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi), and the reported decisions in this corpus are largely appellate work from the subordinate courts, written substantially in Bahasa Malaysia. Road-traffic litigation is a recurring subject, with civil appeals from the Sessions Court on liability and apportionment — for example a case turning on whether the accident occurred on a Federal, State or municipal road, and appeals concerning damage where a motorcycle fell into a water-filled pothole, with third-party indemnity claims apportioned between the parties.

Criminal appeals form a substantial part of the docket, many being prosecution appeals against an acquittal. In one, the prosecution appealed against a Sessions Court decision that it had failed to prove a kes prima facie (a prima facie case), leading to the accused being dilepas dan dibebaskan (discharged and acquitted), on charges of criminal breach of trust under section 409 with an alternative charge under section 403 of the Penal Code. Others concern a conviction under section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001 argued to be defective for non-compliance with section 153(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, and prosecution appeals against acquittals on drug and poison possession charges under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and the Poisons Act 1952 where possession was not established.

Civil first-instance and appellate matters round out the corpus, including an application for a declaration that a sale-and-purchase agreement was void where State-authority consent to transfer had not been obtained, a strike-out application under Order 18 rule 19 of the Rules of Court for want of a reasonable cause of action, and a partnership dispute over the recovery of assets on dissolution where an alleged secret partnership and trust holding could not be proved. The corpus reflects a High Court judge managing a busy civil and criminal appellate list.