JUDGMENT

Arifin Zakaria CJ (Malaya):

Introduction

(1) This is an appeal by the appellants against the decision of the Court of Appeal dated 1 September 2009 dismissing the appellants appeal. Leave to appeal was granted by this court on 19 July 2010 on the following question:

Whether the Deed of Sale and Irrevocable Power of Attorney, executed prior to the commencement of section 205 of the National Land Code 1965, is an instrument of dealing in respect of an alienated land, within the provisions of section 205, of the National Land Code 1965, read with sections 5 and 206 to 211 thereof; and if it is not an instrument of dealing, whether the prohibition in section 205 (3) applies to the Deed of Sale and Irrevocable Power of Attorney.

In this judgment, the respondents will be referred to as the plaintiffs and the appellants as the defendants as in the trial court.

The Facts

(2) The facts relevant to this appeal are briefly as follows:

By the deed of sale and Irrevocable Power of Attorney dated 7 October 1978 ("the Deed of Sale"), the plaintiffs purchased from the defendants late father ("the deceased") 21,000 square feet ("the said portion") in the land comprised in GM 482 (