Court allows fresh evidence in Malacca convent land appeal

The court has allowed fresh evidence to be admitted in an appeal over a disputed convent land in Malacca, after a three-judge panel found that the appellants had exercised due diligence in searching for documents relating to the plot.

The panel, chaired by Justice Firuz Jaffril, ruled that the appellants had satisfied the legal requirements for the admission of fresh evidence after trial, in relation to the disputed land known as Lot 6. Justices Ismail Brahim and Dean Wayne Daly also sat on the panel, which heard the application last month.

Delivering a brief judgment, Firuz said the fresh evidence admitted consists of official correspondence dated 1936 between the owner of Lot 6 and the then Malacca municipal authorities, kept at the National Archives of Malaysia.

He said the documents were only discovered after the High Court dismissed the judicial review filed by the appellants in February 2025.

Firuz said the Canossian Sisters and the Portuguese Mission could not be blamed for failing to locate the nearly century-old archival records, given that the documents had been catalogued under a different heading.

"As members of a religious organisation without expertise in archival research, they exercised due diligence in attempting to trace the documents," he said.

Applying the principles laid down in Ladd v Marshall and the Federal Court's decision in Lau Foo Sun v Government of Malaysia, the court held that the archival records were authentic and could have an important influence on the determination of the land ownership dispute, although they would not necessarily be decisive.

The court, however, rejected the application to admit the 1934 Malacca Municipal Area Map, produced by the British War Office and held at the National Archives of Singapore and the National Library of Singapore, as fresh evidence. Firuz said the map did not assist in determining ownership of Lot 6 and therefore failed to meet the conditions for admission.

The appeal stems from the High Court's February 2025 decision dismissing the organisations' judicial review after finding they had failed to prove ownership of Lot 6.

In his judgment, Justice Radzi Abdul Hamid held that references to the 'Portuguese Convent' referred only to the building on the land and not to ownership of the land itself. He also found that the organisations had failed to establish any legal or beneficial ownership before the current land registration system was introduced.

Lawyers Joy Wilson Appukuttan, Benjamin John Dawson and Kelvynn Foo represented the appellants, while Malacca State Legal Adviser Khairul Azreem Mamat and Anis Wahidah Mohamad appeared for the state government.