JUDGMENT

Mohd. Yusoff Mohamed SCJ:

This is an appeal against the decision of the learned trial Judge who held, on the preliminary issue, that the intervener had a direct interest in the matter and should therefore be allowed to intervene in these proceedings. The learned trial Judge also held, on another preliminary issue, that an ex parte order is always a provisional order and that being so is always liable to be set aside by the Court on the application of any person who is affected by the order.

It is settled law, on the authorities, that a party may be added if his "legal interests" will be affected by the judgment in the action but not if his commercial interests alone would be affected: per Lord Diplock in Pegang Mining Co. Ltd. v. Choong Sam & Ors. [1973] In that case, the Privy Council had formulated the test to determine whether a party's interests in the matter are "legal" or merely "commercial" in the following words (at p. 56):

A better way of expressing the test is: will his rights against or liabilities to any party to the action in respect of the subject matter of the action be directly affected by any order which may be made in this action?

The answer to that quest