Gopal Sri Ram JCA:

Facts, Background And The Issues

There are 4 appeals and a cross appeal before us. For convenience, I will refer to the parties according to the titles assigned to them in the court below. The appeals have been brought by each of the 4 defendants. Their complaints are directed against the judgment of the High Court granting the plaintiffs compensation under the Land Acquisition Act 1960 ("the 1960 Act") for loss of certain land which the judge found to have been held under customary title. His judgment is reported in [2002] 2 CLJ 543. The facts of this case have been - to adopt the expression currently in vogue - sufficiently 'interrogated' in that judgment. That spares me regurgitating the facts here. I need only say something about them for the limited purpose of understanding the arguments that have been canvassed before us.

The plaintiffs (which expression appearing throughout this judgment includes all those whom they represent) are aboriginal peoples of the Temuan tribe. They are the First Peoples of the States of Malaya. They are, by their custom and tradition, settled peoples. In other words, they are not nomadic as are some of their other aborig