Gopal Sri Ram JCA:

There are two appeals before us. We heard argument on them on 1 August 2005 and reserved judgment. Both appeals relate to the quantum of damages awarded by the learned trial judge. The factual matrix against which these appeals rest is as follows.

The appellant in the first appeal (plaintiff in the court below) is the owner of a piece of land. I will call it "the Semabok land". At all material times the respondent in the first appeal (defendant in the court below) was in occupation of the Semabok land. On 11 August 1983, the plaintiff and defendant entered into an agreement ("the August 1983 agreement") the relevant terms of which were these:-

(i) the defendant was to "assign and or surrender all his interest and rights in and to the portion of the said land occupied by him together with the said house" to the plaintiff;

(ii) in consideration of the defendant's promise, the plaintiff was to pay the defendant a certain sum of money as compensation. The plaintiff said it had to pay RM30,000. But the defendant said that he had been promised RM100,000. The quantum of the payment therefore became the subject matter of a fully blown dispute;

(iii) the defendan