Zainun binti Ali

On the judicial record

A record of apex-level reasoning across the civil courts' jurisdiction over conversion certificates, judicial appointments under the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, derivative actions in deadlocked companies, and the indefeasibility of a charge.

Zainun binti Ali sits in the Federal Court, the apex court of Malaysia, and this collection gathers final appellate decisions across constitutional, commercial and administrative law. A landmark administrative-law matter concerns the certiorari jurisdiction to quash certificates of conversion to Islam issued in respect of children, and the jurisdiction of the civil courts over such a challenge — a decision of the first importance for the boundary between the civil and Syariah systems and for the rights of a parent. Constitutional law is engaged in an appeal on the validity of senior judicial appointments and the extension of tenure under section 84 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964. Banking and contract feature through a dispute engaging section 29 of the Contracts Act 1950, property under construction and progressive payment, and the termination of a sale-and-purchase agreement. Company law is addressed through a derivative action in a deadlocked company with an equal split of shareholding between directors of opposing views, and insolvency through the setting aside of a winding-up order made in breach of the winding-up rules. Land features through the validity of a bank's registered charge where the chargor obtained title by fraud and whether the charge was defeasible. Intellectual property appears through a trade-description order and an appeal to set it aside. Because the Federal Court sits in panels and its rulings bind the courts below, these decisions settle points of general importance rather than merely resolving the dispute at hand. Private individuals are referred to by role; corporate, governmental and statutory parties are named. A recurring concern is the reach of the civil courts' jurisdiction and the protection of constitutional and personal rights, weighed against the powers asserted by administrative and religious authorities. The collection is a valuable record of apex-level reasoning across administrative, constitutional and commercial law, and of the durable precedents that follow when the apex court fixes the boundary of a jurisdiction.