Raja Azlan Shah J:

This case is of some significance as it involves important principles of law. The plaintiff is asking for a declaration that he is the beneficial owner of the land comprised in Extract from the Mukim Register No. 307, Lot 237 Mukim of Sungei Panjang in the District of Sabak Bernam in the State of Selangor (hereinafter referred to as the said land) and other consequential relief. His case is based on the following premises. His mother owned the said land. She died in 1938. He is the sole beneficiary of his mother's estate which comprised the said land only. In September 1940 he entered into an agreement with the defendant's father (since deceased) to sell the said land for a consideration of $400. Both duly executed a memorandum of transfer in the required form before the Assistant Collector of Land Revenue who attested it. The plaintiff now claims that as the EMR 307 was still in his mother's name he could not perfect the purchaser's title. He therefore testified that as a result the collector returned to him the document of title and to the purchaser the purchase price. He took no steps to register his name in the EMR until December 1961 when he applied