Law Lords settle 70-year land dispute

A 70-year-old land dispute involving three generations of two families of Enterprise, Chaguanas, was finally settled by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London yesterday. Since the dispute began in 1934, two generations have died, leaving the issue in the hands of the third generation. Yesterday, the Law Lords ruled for Ganase Lall, administrator of the estate of Kissoon Lall. The Privy Council ordered Sati Bissessar, who was the legal representative for Ramsaran Bissessar, to pay costs in the High Court, Court of Appeal, and the Privy Council. The Privy Council comprised Lords Bingham, Clyde, Scott, Rodger, and Walker.

Stanley Marcus SC represented the Lall family, while Dr Fenton Ramsahoye SC appeared for the Bissessar family. The issue in the case was whether Kissoon Lall acquired the title to the six acres of land. The land was registered at one time to a man called Reedailal who died intestate (without a will) on March 8 1926. It was said that Reedailal was the maternal uncle of Kissoon Lall, but this was never proven and according to Lord Scott, Reedailal died without a next-of-kin. The next registered owner of the land was one Bissessar who claimed he had a warrant of transfer dated September 6  1956. That transfer was duly authorised by the Governor. Without anyone knowing who really owned the land, Kissoon Lall filed a writ in the Port-of-Spain High Court on September 4, 1979.

The writ sought a declaration that Kissoon Lall was entitled to be registered as the proprietor of the six acres. The statement of claim alleged that he had been in continuous and uninterrupted possession of the land since the death of Reedailal. Although the writ was filed in 1979, the Law Lords could not understand why the matter did not come to trial before April 28, 1998. By that time, some of the main witnesses had died, including Kissoon Lall, who passed away in October 1980. His widow continued living in the house until her death in 1992. After Kissoon Lall died, his son Ganase took over as administrator of his estate. Justice Ivor Archie ruled that the acts of occupation and possession of the land by Kissoon Lall over a period werenot sufficient to establish a possessory title to the six acres. But the Court of Appeal comprising Justices Jean Permanand, Margot Warner and Anthony Lucky felt otherwise.

They disagreed, however, with some of the inferences drawn by Justice Archie from the primary facts. There was evidence that up to four additional houses occupied by other members of the Lall family were erected on the land, but this was not accepted by the trial judge. The Law Lords accepted the Court of Appeal’s reasoning in the matter, saying the local judges knew the character, customs and practices of local villagers in Trinidad living in a rural neighbourhood. As a result, the Privy Council said it would not interfere with the decision of the TT Court of Appeal.