LAW OF EQUITY, TRUSTS & PROBATE I (GLUP3044)

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS FOR WEEK THREE- SEMESTER I, 2015/2016

QUESTION ONE

(i) Joseph has a beautiful house and could see from his bedroom window the hills up to
Genting Highlands and surrounding forests. His neighbour Peter started construction
of an annexe to his house which already blocked much of the good view from
Joseph‟s bedroom and once completed threatened to block the whole view.

Joseph is seeking a prohibitory injunction to stop the construction work pending his
filing a law suit against Peter. Advise Joseph.

(ii) Hafiz entered the premises of Omar with the help of an Anton Piller Order to obtain
incriminating materials of the category of duplicating machine, video tapes, register
of accounts and bank papers showing deposits and withdrawals. However, Hafiz
found these additional items during the course of his search: (a) a generating set with
which Omar operated the duplicating machine when there was no electric current; (b)
a detailed itinerary of foreign trips made by Omar during the past years; and (c) some
money in cash and cheques in the name of Omar.

Explain whether the above items may be used as pieces of evidence against Omar.

QUESTION TWO

(i) John, a brilliant geneticist attended a conference on biomedical organic chemical

production at which he met Peter, the managing director of Transgene Co. Ltd. Peter
discussed with John an ingenious method of causing latex producing trees to secrete
an anticancer drug through transgenetic mutation. Transgene Co. Ltd owns the patent
which is protected in most developed and developing countries. John, a permanent
resident of Malaysia uses the method to produce the drug in vast quantities from
rubber trees. He acquires huge wealth out of which he buys an expensive flat in

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 London in which he collects antiques and paintings. The exact content of the flat is
not known. Advise Transgene Co. Ltd.

(ii) A Tunisian businessman owning substantial assets in Tunisia established a trading

company in Kuala Lumpur in partnership with a Malaysian businessman. This trading
company took loan from a local finance company, which they could not repay. The
finance company discovered to their dismay that the trading company had no assets
left to repay the loan. Assets belonging to the Tunisian businessman, were all located
in Tunisia, but were enough to repay the loan. Could the finance company in
Malaysia get the above mentioned assets in Tunisia frozen with the help of Mareva
injunction issued by the Kuala Lumpur High Court?

QUESTION THREE

(i) Rema and Rama entered into a contract to sing at Palace of Golden Hearts for a
period of twelve months. It was stated that during that period they are not to sing
anywhere else without the management‟s written permission. They met their old
friend, Bob Rock, who requested them to sing at his Hotel Paradise. They agreed and
abandoned their previous commitment with Palace of Golden Hearts. The
management of Palace of Golden Hearts applied for an injunction restraining the
singers to sing at Hotel Paradise. Advise the management of Palace of Golden Hearts.

(ii) Rani, a famous television presentor, appointed Ravi as her manager. The contract of
service stated that Rani shall not appoint anybody as her manager during the period of
3 years. A year after the contract, Rani wrote to Ravi that she no longer needs Ravi as
her manager. Ravi is seeking an injunction to prevent the termination of the service
contract. Advise Ravi.

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QUESTION FOUR

Faizal is a registered proprietor of a freehold agricultural land alienated to him by the State
Authority. The said land, LOT 433 is now being planted with rubber trees. Wan Puteh, Faizal‟s
friend planned to open a furniture factory, grabbed the opportunity and agreed to buy Faizal‟s
land. On March 4th, 2010 Faizal entered into a written agreement to sell the land to Wan Puteh
for a sum of RM400,000.00 which is free from encumbrances. Wan Puteh paid RM40,000.00 as
a deposit and part payment towards the purchase price. A week later, Wan Puteh went to see the
land and he found out that part of the land was cleared and half of the rubber trees were already
cut down. He felt disappointed and asked his lawyer to rescind the agreement.

His lawyer wrote to Faizal: “we hereby give you notice that our client hereby repudiates the
contract”. Faizal was angry and argued that he had not breached the contract and thus, Wan
Puteh has no right to rescind the contract. Wan Puteh however believed that Faizal had breached
the contract under sec 34 of the Specific Relief Act, 1950.

(a) Based on the above facts, advise Wan Puteh on what is meant by rescission and whether
the circumstances of the case would entitle Wan Puteh for the right to rescind the
contract.

(b) What are the circumstances which may defeat the right of Wan Puteh to rescind the
contract?

(c) In the circumstances above, if the court were to allow the rescission to happen, would it
be fair to Faizal? Discuss.

QUESTION FIVE

(i) “Rectification is a discretionary equitable remedy whereby an instrument which does

not accord to the intentions of the parties to it may be corrected. It operates as an
exception to the „parol evidence rule‟, whereby oral evidence is not admissible to
alter a written instrument”.

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 Explain the nature and bars to rectification with the help of the above statement.

(ii) Amir entered into a contract to sell his estate comprising of several lots of land to
Ammar. In the draft agreement two lots were included by mistake. Both the parties
entered into long negotiations which were inconclusive in nature, but ultimately they
appeared to have agreed to exclude the two lots from the sale. However, it was
discovered that the agreement deed still maintained part of the two lots as forming
part of the estate sold.

Amir is now applying for rectification of the agreement deed on the ground of
common mistake. Discuss his chances of success.

Note: Students are reminded to come for the tutorial session (s) while they are prepared or at
least able to answer all the questions.