JUDGMENT

Ismail Khan J:

The issue raised before me is whether a person who has obtained an order from the Registrar for the grant of letters of administration to issue can be sued in a representative capacity before the grant is extracted by him for the purpose of enabling the liability of an intestate estate to be determined and paid out of the assets of the deceased.

The plaintiffs' claim is against the first and second defendants as administratrix and administrator respectively of the estate of one Goh Tiong Tan, deceased, for damages for breach of contract and/or duty as common carrier and/or negligence in and about the carriage of goods. It was alleged that the plaintiffs entrusted certain goods to the deceased for conveyance by boat and the goods were lost during transit in blameworthy circumstances.

The defence is, inter alia, that the defendants have not been constituted the legal representatives of the deceased and cannot be sued in that capacity. The plaintiffs' action was incompetent and ought to be dismissed in limine.

It is not in dispute that letters of administration to the estate were granted on 15 January 1960, but that the grant had not been extracted. The acti