Case No.:

AC-REV-6-1957

Court:

Court of Appeal

Issue No.:

1961

Principles

·  Land Law—Prescription and Limitation Ordinance, s. 6A (1951)- Applicant who held land for prescription period against Government before statute loses rights if ownership not registered

Applicant adversely held land registered in the name of the Government from 1922 until 1951 when Prescription and Limitation Ordinance, s. 6A, became law forbidding acquisition of rights by prescription over registered Government land. He claims he acquired prescriptive right before 1951 although he made no application until after 1951.
Held: Since the land was registered in the name of Government in 1951, applicant lost by the passage of the statute all rights in the land he might have acquired by former application.

Judgment

COURT OF APPEAL) *

OMER ABDEL GADER ALl AND OTHERS v. SUDAN GOVERNMENT

AC-REV-6-1957

M. A. Abu Rannat C.J. February 17, 1957:—The applicant admits that the land claimed by him was registered in the name of the Government by the Land Settlement in 1922. He contends that he acquired a prescriptive title at least since 1922.

The Resettlement Officer refused his application under the Prescription and Limitation Ordinance, s. 6A.

Section 6A reads:

“No easement may be established, and no person shall acquire any right or title by prescription over any land after it has been registered in the name of the Government.”

The wording of this section is clear. The courts are bound to follow it. It was contended that this section deprived some persons who had been owners of land by prescription before the introduction of this section in 1951 and that it caused great injustice to such people. Such contention finds no support in applying the law. The legislature made the law and we are bound to apply it. It is not for us to question wisdom of such legislation.

The application is summarily dismissed.

  * Court: M. A. Abu Rannat C.J.