Raja Azlan Shah CJ (Malaya)

(delivering the judgment of the Court): This is an appeal from a judgment of the Judicial Commissioner in an action, in which the plaintiff (the appellant) sought to recover from his brother, the defendant, (the respondent) $100,000 being the amount acknowledged to be due from him to the former under a Deed of Compromise dated April 24, 1967 made between them. The only defence put forward was that the debt was statute-barred. Since the right of the plaintiff was a claim for a liquidated pecuniary sum founded on contract, section 6 of the Limitation Ordinance, 1953 applies.

Section 6(1)(a) of the Ordinance is as follows:

"… the following actions shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued, that is to say — actions founded on a contract …"

The facts of the case are clear and undisputed. On April 24, 1967 the parties entered into a Deed of Compromise whereby the defendant became the trustee of the plaintiff of an undivided one-third share in the lands and buildings known as Nos. 82A and B, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. It was agreed that the defendant would transfer the said property free from encu