(Oral)

Gopal Sri Ram JCA:

This is the judgment of the court.

Background And Issues

There are two appeals before us, they both arise from 3 consolidated suits tried at the High Court in Penang. The litigation in these appeals has to do with the estate of the late Datuk Khaw Bian Cheng. The subject matter of the appeals concerns 2 sets of wills, one set of 3 made on 24 October 1990, which we will refer to as the "1990 Wills" and another set of 3 wills made on 3 August 1992, which we will refer to as "1992 Wills".

The appellants before us in the first appeal, Appeal No.: P-02-360-98, were the defendants in all 3 suits. The respondents before us were the plaintiffs in those suits. The appellants in the second appeal Appeal No.: P-02-409-98 intervened in one of those suits, had themselves added as defendants and delivered a counterclaim about which we will say something in a moment. Suffice that we mention now that the appellants in the second appeal are seeking an order that Datuk Khaw Bian Cheng (the deceased) died intestate. In other words, they are seeking to have both the 1990 and the 1992 Wills declared invalid.

In the court below, the learned judge held the 1990 Wills t