(1) : Juraimi bin Husin (‘the plaintiff’) had, together with two others, been convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the High Court at Temerloh. His appeal to the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court had been dismissed. On 30 June 1999, he petitioned for clemency to His Highness the Sultan of Pahang. His petition was rejected on 4 April 2001. On his application, the execution of the death sentence was stayed pending his recourse to the court over the constitutionality of the rejection of his clemency petition.

(2) By way of an originating summons filed in the High Court at Kuala Lumpur, he applied for several declaratory orders pertaining to the rejection of the clemency petition. The Pahang Pardons Board, the Public Prosecutor, Malaysia and the Government of Malaysia, the defendants in the originating summons, applied under O 18 r 19 of the Rules of the High Court 1980 for the originating summons to be dismissed on the sole ground that the decision of the Pardons Board is not justiciable. During the hearing of the defendants’ application, the plaintiff’s counsel urged the court to remit the matter to the Federal Court under s 84 of the Courts