Hasan Lah FCJ:

These two appeals concern the interpretation of s 314 of the Companies Act 1965 (‘the Act’)

Whether the partnership of ARCI Enterprise would qualify as an unregistered company pursuant to s 314 of the Companies Act 1965

These two appeals are against the decision of the Court of Appeal which had allowed the defendants’ appeal against the decision of the High Court given on 26 August 2010. The respondent in Appeal No 02–24 of 2011(W) was the second defendant in the High Court. The respondent in Appeal No 02–25 of 2011(W) was the first defendant in the High Court. The five appellants were the plaintiffs in the High Court. The parties have agreed that both the appeals be heard together as they involved the same question of law.

We reserved our judgment after hearing these appeals. We now give our decision and the reasons for the same.

The brief facts of this case as found by the Court of Appeal are as follows. The plaintiffs claimed to be partners at some point or another in a partnership by the name of ARCI Enterprise which was registered on 8 October 1992 (‘the Partnership’). However a partnership by this name was also registered on 29 July 2004 and 12 January 2006.

The part