Read the full judgment text of HCA 1454/2003 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 25 August 2006 before Mr Recorder McCoy, SC.
Civil trial – adverse possession – land in Sheung Wo Che Village, Shatin – registered owners as Plaintiffs against mother and son tenants as Defendants – Defendants' original defence and counterclaim sought adverse possession of land rented to them and of government land – claim for government land untenable as 60 years of adverse possession required against the government – Defendants twice amended the area claimed, first abandoning the rented and government land (Plan V) and then pleading an even smaller area in the alternative – application to further amend made after non-expert evidence completed – whether amendment should be allowed – test of uncompensatable prejudice – new plan contained very few coordinates, did not use surveying dimensions, and included a curve requiring careful precision – Plaintiffs indicated additional evidence might be required – court allowed amendment despite inherent shortcomings – costs of the application reserved to end of trial with clear indication that they would be in favour of the Plaintiffs – 48 hours granted to Plaintiffs to file any consequential reply.
Legal issues: Whether to allow further amendment of the defence and counterclaim to further reduce the area claimed
Outcome: Application to amend the defence and counterclaim allowed; costs of the application reserved to the end of the trial with a clear indication that they will be in favour of the Plaintiffs
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