Seah SCJ

In the Court below, the suit was fought by the parties deliberately upon several issues substantially agreed to and framed by learned counsel and the learned judge gave his judgment according to the issues raised. This appeal ought, in my opinion, to be decided on that footing.

The relevant facts pertaining to this appeal have been summarized by the learned judge in his judgment reported in [1987] 1 MLJ 56 at pp 58–61 and there is no need to reproduce them here.

The first issue A reads:

Whether, at all material times before November 1978, the second and third portions of the estate were held by the registered owners upon trust for the first plaintiff.

For convenience, the estate of the first appellant company (first plaintiff in the court below) can be divided into:

(a) first portion,

(b) second portion and

(c) third portion. It was common ground that the first portion was registered in the name of the first appellant, the second portion in the name of Chelliah Paramjothy and the third portion in the name of Wong Peng Fun. The findings of the learned judge are that "the registered owners of the second and third portions of the estate held the properties upon trust for the