Jayamaha Mudalige Karunawathie Jayamaha vs. Jayamaha Mudalige Leelawathie Jayamaha – SC APPEAL 38/2014-2025

In the case between Jayamaha Mudalige Karunawathie Jayamaha and several respondents contesting the Will’s validity, the core legal issues concerned whether a Last Will, executed and attested but not produced in its original form at trial, remained valid and whether the presumption of revocation applied under the circumstances. The Court held that the Will’s absence, without clear intent or evidence of revocation, did not invalidate it; the evidence substantiated its due execution and attestation. The principle reaffirmed was that the proponent of revocation by destruction bears the burden of proof, and mere absence of the original document is insufficient for such presumption, particularly when the surrounding facts including the Testator’s recent death do not suggest intentional revocatio