SAIBO v. ANDRIS et al.

SAIBO v. ANDRIS et al.

D. C, Tangalla, 432.

 

Crown grant-Presumption of ownership arising from issue of Crown grant-Presumption arising from character of land -- Ordinance No. 12 of 1840.

A sale of land by the Crown and the issue of a Crown grant to the purchaser do not of themselves raise a presumption that the land was one over which the Crown had disposing power.

Per Lawrie, J.-As to the presumption arising from the nature of the land, a swamp, waste, or uncultivated land, which is within the limits of or adjacent to cultivated laud belonging to a private owner, will not he presumed to be the property of the Crown.

PLAINTIFF claimed a field named Karambadelawalakumbura by purchase from the Crown, for which he held a Crown grant. Defendants claimed the same land as part of their land called Karambadelahena. The District Judge dismissed plaintiff's case. He held that it was proved by witnesses on both sides that a portion of the land now in dispute was formerly a marsh, variously called Amunugilma, Helunode, and Karambadelawala;

 that at the time of the Crown survey a portion of the land surveyed for sale had been converted into

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