Spenser Wilkinson J:

This is an application by the executors and trustees of the Will of Yeap Chor Ee deceased to determine whether a Deed of Settlement dated 30 December 1946 made by the deceased constituted a good and valid gift of 2,000 shares of $100 each in the Ban Hin Lee Bank Ltd. and for consequential orders thereon.The Indenture in question was made between Yeap Chor Ee of the one part and Yeap Chor Ee, Goh Hock Siew, Yeap Kim Hoe and Yeap Hock Hin of the other part.The material parts of the Indenture for the purposes of this application are as follows:

WHEREAS the Settlor is the owner of two thousand (2,000) shares of $100 each fully paid-up in Ban Hin Lee Bank Ltd. having its registered office at No. 43 Beach Street, Penang.

AND WHEREAS in consideration of the natural love and affection of the Settlor for the donees hereinafter mentioned the Settlor is desirous of assigning the said shares to the Trustees to be held by them the trusts hereinafter mentioned.

NOW THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH as follows:

1. That for the purposes of effectuating the said desire and in consideration of his natural love and affection for the donees hereinafter mentioned the Settlor hereby assigns unto the Trustees the said two thousand (2,000) shares of $100 each fully paid-up in the Ban Hin Lee Bank Ltd. absolutely TO HOLD the same UPON TRUSTS for all the sons . . . . .

There is no dispute that the sons in whose favour this document purported to be would in the events which have happened be Yeap Leong Huat, the son of Yeap Hock Hoe by his wife Hooi Kam Chee and Yeap Leong Thiam and Yeap Leong Keng, the sons of Yeap Hock Hoe by his wife Yap Kim Lean.

After execution of the Deed of Settlement it was kept by Goh Hock Siew, one of the trustees named therein and a Director and Manager of the Bank, in his safe together with the Share Certificate Book.On the death of Goh Hock Siew the Deed of Settlement was placed in the testator's safe and the Book of Certificates in the safe of Yeap Hock Hin, also one of the trustees of the Settlement.No transfer of the shares in question was ever made and on the death of the testator in May 1952 the Deed of Settlement was found in his safe and the Book of Certificates was still in Yeap Hock Hin's safe.The testator was in fact the registered owner of more than 2,000 shares of $100 each in Ban Hin Lee Bank Ltd.

Reference was made in the course of the arguments before me to three other Deeds of Settlement made by the same testator on various dates prior to the Settlement in question, each dealing with certain shares in the same Bank and all in somewhat different terms from the Settlement now in question.In my opinion the terms of these other Deeds are of no assistance to me in construing the Deed now before me, which must be construed, I think, solely from a consideration of its wording and the fact that no transfer of the shares was executed.

There is really only one point to be decided in this matter, which can, I think, be fairly summarised in this way: Do the facts of this case bring it within the principle of the case of Milory v. Lord 45 ER II 85 and the very large number of cases in which that decision has been followed, or are the circumstances of the present case sufficient to distinguish it so that the principle of that case does not apply?

Mr. Khoo Eng Cheang, who appeared for the Senior Assistant Registrar as representing all the beneficiaries under the Will of the deceased, in a careful argument cited a large number of authorities but his argument really rested upon the decision in Milory v. Lord 45 ER II 85. The particular passage from the judgment of Lord Justice Turner upon which he relied reads as follows:

I take the law of this Court to be well settled, that, in order to render a voluntary settlement valid and effectual, the settlor must have done everything, which, according to the nature of the property comprised in the settlement, was necessary to be done in order to transfer the prope