Read the full judgment text of CACV 001284/2001 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 24 December 2003 before Le Pichon JA, Yeung JA, Reyes J.
Civil law – land compensation – resumption of agricultural land – West Rail Project – Yuen Long – section 12 of the Lands Resumption Ordinance – whether development potential can be taken into account – meaning of speculative element – hope value – whether Suen Sun-yau remains good law after Yin Shuen – effect of Court of Final Appeal judgment in Director of Lands v Yin Shuen Enterprises Limited and Nam Chun Investment Company Limited [2003] 2 HKC 490 – comparables embedding development potential must be adjusted to remove hope value – evidential burden on Government discharged where hope value shown to be embedded in applicant's comparables – burden then shifts to claimant to demonstrate adjustments – tribunal's award of $3,225,000 based on unadjusted comparables unsustainable – appeal allowed – matter remitted to Lands Tribunal for reassessment – costs nisi against applicant – subsequent CFA appeal dismissed (FACV 13/2004, 21 November 2005).
Legal issues: Effect of CFA judgment in Yin Shuen on assessment of compensation for resumed agricultural land under section 12 · Evidential burden regarding speculative element in comparables
Outcome: Appeal allowed; tribunal's award of $3,225,000 set aside and matter remitted to the Lands Tribunal for reassessment in light of the judgments in this appeal, View Point and Busy Firm. A subsequent appeal to the Court of Final Appeal (FACV 13/2004) was dismissed on 21 November 2005.
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