Mohd Hishamudin Yunus J:

Does an unborn child have a legal personality to sue? This novel issue is before me in this appeal - an appeal by the second plaintiff from the decision of the learned deputy registrar to the judge in chambers. In her decision, the learned registrar had dismissed the second plaintiff's application for summary judgment pursuant to O. 14 of the Rules of the High Court 1980 ('the RHC').

I have dismissed the appeal with costs.

I shall state briefly the background facts.

The 1st plaintiff at the material time was a spinster. In her statement of claim, she alleges that after having met the defendant and followed by a few months of courtship, the latter promised to marry her. Believing this promise, she agreed to cohabit with him. And out of this intimate relationship, the 1st plaintiff, five years later, conceived the second plaintiff, the child of the defendant.

The 1st plaintiff alleges that the defendant has renegade on his promise to marry her. She now sues him for the tort of breach of promise of marriage.

In this action, the 1st plaintiff adds her 30 week-old unborn child as the 2nd plaintiff, citing herself as the next friend (purportedly in compl