SHARIFAH ROHAIZAN BINTI SYED MANSOR v AHMAD SADLI @ AHMAD FADLI BIN MAJID

ka-22ncvc-14-03-2023 High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) 28 April 2026 • KA-22NCvC-14-03/2023 • 43 min read
21 cases cited (0 SG, 21 foreign)

Catchwords

CIVIL PROCEDURE Parties — Locus standi — Shifting capacity — Suit commenced by court-appointed committee under the Mental Health Act 2001 — Demise of patient during pendency of suit — Automatic dissolution of committee by operation of law — Standing of heir to maintain action in personal capacity as beneficiary of the estate — Rules of Court 2012, Order 15 CONTRACT Capacity — Unsoundness of mind — Mental capacity to execute contract — Sale and Purchase Agreement — Contracts Act 1950, Sections 11 & 12 — Allegation that vendor was suffering from advanced cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease at material times — Presumption of cognitive capacity — Lucid intervals — Burden of proving incapacity on the party asserting unsoundness of mind — Evaluation of contemporaneous conduct and execution of complex signature Consideration — Validity of payment — Payment of purchase price to vendor’s designated stakeholder — Stakeholder's receipt — Standard conveyancing practice — Clear bank records showing immediate debit of funds on date of execution — Purchaser’s complete discharge of contractual obligation — Subsequent non-disbursement of funds by stakeholder to vendor — Whether failure of consideration — Contracts Act 1950, Section 2(d) LAND LAW Indefeasibility of title and interest — Registration of transfer — National Land Code (1965) (or Act 828), Section 340 — Challenging registered title on grounds of void instrument, fraud, and misrepresentation — Shield of immediate indefeasibility — Failure of challenger to establish statutory exceptions under Section 340(2) Land Inquiry — Section 27 National Land Code — Delay in registration of transfer — Statutory land inquiry triggered by private caveat — In-person appearance of vendor before Land Administrator — Finding of mental capacity and voluntariness by a public authority — Statutory legitimacy of registration EVIDENCE Expert evidence — Admissibility and weight — Clash of medical experts — Attending neurologist vs. independent consultant psychiatrist — Rules of Court 2012, Order 40A — Fatal non-compliance with statutory declaration requirements by attending physician — Evidentiary value of retrospective document-based psychiatric clinical audit — Admissibility of medical records and MRI findings — Clinical-ethical principle of patient autonomy in geriatric psychiatry Presumptions — Presumption of regularity — Evidence Act 1950, Section 114(e) — Execution of Memorandum of Transfer (Borang 14A) witnessed by Assistant Land Registrar — Whether official acts presumed to be regularly and honestly performed in the absence of cogent evidence to the contrary Adverse inference — Section 114(g), Evidence Act 1950 — Failure of Defendant to call transaction broker and vendor's personal employee — Sufficiency of primary documentary evidence to establish facts — No gaps in evidence — Burden of proof on Plaintiff to establish assertions EQUITY Equitable defences — Laches, acquiescence, and inordinate delay — Failure of heirs to challenge land transaction during the vendor's lifetime — Eight-year delay in commencing legal action — Serious prejudice to the purchaser due to loss of the vendor's direct testimony — Doctrine of clean hands

Judges (1)

John Lee Kien How @ Mohammad Johan Lee Delivered

Counsel (8)

Dasuki & Co. Firm Kamil Hashim Raj & Lim Firm Ahmad Dasuki Bin Che Hasan@Che Yusuf Counsel Defendant Andrew Navin Counsel Plaintiff Arun Ganesh Boopalan Counsel Plaintiff Mohamad Nizan Bin Azdahari Counsel Defendant Mohd Razaly Bin Abdul Rahman Counsel Defendant Nur Iman Najwa Counsel Defendant

Parties (2)

Ahmad Sadli @ Ahmad Fadli bin Majid Defendant Sharifah Rohaizan binti Syed Mansor Plaintiff

Statutes Cited

Contracts Act 1950 (Cap 136)
Evidence Act 1950 (Cap 56)
National Land Code (Cap 828)
Rules of Court 2012

Cases Cited (21)

UK (3)
[1892] 1 QB 599 [1985] 2 All ER 880 [1985] AC 1000
MY (18)
[1934] MLJ 96 [1939] 1 MLJ 253 [1939] 1 MLRH 107 [1980] 2 MLJ 82 [1991] 1 CLJ 271 [1994] 2 MLJ 517 [1994] 3 MLJ 185 [1995] 2 MLJ 770 [1995] 3 CLJ 639 [1995] 3 MLJ 331 [1996] MLJU 484 [1998] 4 MLRH 1 [1999] 2 CLJ 997 [2005] 6 MLRH 61 [2010] 2 MLJ 1 [2010] 3 MLRH 47 [2013] 5 MLJ 1 [2025] 6 MLRH 504

Judgment

Read the full judgment on the official Malaysia Courts portal.

Read on eJudgment

Source: eJudgment (ka-22ncvc-14-03-2023)