Weerapurage Babynona vs H. Vinsena Rajapakse – CA NO. 210/96 F -2011

In the case between Weerapurage Babynona (plaintiff/appellant) and H. Vinsena Rajapakse and Algreat Rajapakse (defendant/respondents), the issue addressed was whether the plaintiff’s late husband, Diyonis Peiris, acquired an independent and adverse prescriptive title to the property “Millagahawatte” under section 3 of the Prescription Ordinance (Sri Lanka). It was held that the plaintiff failed to establish possession with the requisite qualities to sustain a claim for prescriptive title, thereby affirming the principle that in a rei vindicatio action, the burden rests on the plaintiff to prove legal title, shifting to the defendant only in limited circumstances. Reliance was placed on the statutory requirements of the Prescription Ordinance, highlighting the necessity that possession must