NH Chan JCA:

The appellant (plaintiff) has, in the instant case, brought an action against the respondents (defendants) for the recovery of land. The appellant had bought the land from one Tengku Maheran the previous owner in 1989 and became the present registered proprietor. This piece of land is 93 relongs in area and it is padi land.

This is what the judge in the court below said (see Zakaria bin Hanafi v. Ibrahim bin Hanafiah [1994] 3 MLJ 561, 567):

According to DW1, the previous owner did not enter into a written agreement with the defendants because Tengku Hisham told them the owner would not repossess the land and that they could continue to cultivate the land till the end of time. DW1 did not agree with the suggestion by the plaintiff's counsel that the tenancy was from one season to another. I was not able to ascertain from the evidence the nature of the tenancy and how the tenancy could be terminated. There was insufficient evidence to suggest a yearly tenancy and a tenancy forever is unconscionable. I was not satisfied that the three month's notice was sufficient and proper to evict the defendants from the land. I tend to disagree with the submission by the de