Terrell A-J CJ:

The facts of this case are as follows.The respondent Brouwer was in arrear with the assessment payable in respect of a piece of land in Kuala Lumpur of which he was the registered owner.The Chairman of the Sanitary Board thereupon obtained an order attaching the land.The order is 31 March 1936, and is expressed to be in force for six months from the date of the order.

A prohibitory order was applied for in accordance with s. 108 (i) of the Land Code, which provides that, no attachment by order of Court shall affect any land until a copy of the prohibitory order under s. 294 of the Civil Procedure Code has been presented.The order was duly presented and a memorial thereof made, but the Registrar of Titles is in doubt whether he should register such order, and accordingly refers the matter to the Supreme Court under the provisions of s. 239 of the Land Code.

The difficulty which has arisen is that s. 294 of the Civil Procedure Code, which was introduced by Enactment 25 of 1933 and purported to amend s. 275 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1918, was only to come into force upon the publication of a notification to that effect in the Government Gazette.This was in c