The Commissioners of the Loan Board vs. Ratwatte – clr volume 2 page 114

The case between The Commissioners of the Loan Board (plaintiff) and Ratwatte Basnaike Nilame (defendant) concerned the validity and legal consequences of a sale of “rents, issues, and profits” of a house conducted under potentially expired municipal warrants due to tax defaults. The central issue was whether such a sale conferred a right of possession or was limited to the right to recover rents and profits. The court held that the sale did not grant possession of the property and that the sale was invalid where it relied on expired or improperly executed warrants. This ruling reaffirmed the principle that statutory requirements in municipal sales proceedings must be strictly followed, and that such sales confer only the rights precisely described therein. The reasoning rested on construc