JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

1. There are four appeals before the court. These appeals arose out of the same action, that is, Civil Suit No. KG 104 of 1994 (II) in the Kuching High Court ("the main action"). The first three appeals relate to interlocutory matters. The fourth appeal, ie, Civil Appeal No. Q-02-367-99 is an appeal against the final judgment of the High Court in the main action. At the outset, counsel for the parties informed that they planned to go straight to the fourth appeal. We gave our consent to the request.

The parties

2. The plaintiff (the 1st respondent in these appeals) is one Jong Chuk. The 1st to the 5th defendants (the 2nd to the 6th respondents in these appeals) are individuals who were the registered co-proprietors of a piece of land described as Lot 29, Block 218 Kuching North Land District (hereafter referred to as "the said land").

3. The appellant in these appeals is a locally incorporated company named Bacom Enterprises Sdn Bhd (hereafter referred to as "Bacom"). It was brought in as a third party by the 1st to the 5th defendants and became the 6th defendant. For ease of reference, except for Bacom, we will refer to the other parties as they were in