[1] The present appeals have been brought by the appellant in light of the Court of Appeal's decision given on 22 February 2018 in which the respondent's appeals were allowed. In the appeal proceedings before the Court of Appeal, both the appellant and the respondent herein were the respondent and the appellant respectively. We heard these two appeals together given the commonality of issues in the questions of law raised herein for our determination. In simple terms, the common issue raised herein begs the question of whether the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 ("the CIPAA" for short) which came into force on 15 April 2014 is to be construed as having retrospective or prospective operation. We propose to give reasons for our decision in these appeals at the same time in one judgment.

[2] One noteworthy feature of these appeals which deserve early mention is that the instant appeals were heard back-to-back with three other separate appeals involving parties who were not the parties herein. These three appeals concern the same issue as highlighted above raising in consequence arguments which are similar in almost every detail by both learned counsel for the