B.A.Sissie Gunawardane vs S.A.Don Jercy Rosmand Gunawardane – CA NO.402/99-2014

The case between S.A. Don Jercy Rosmand Gunawardane (substituted by K.K.G. Cecil Wasantha Perera) and B.A. Sissie Gunawardane (with other co-defendants) addressed the issue of whether the 6th defendant was entitled to succeed in her prescriptive claim for title to land subject to partition, on appeal from the District Judge’s denial of her claim. It was held that the evidence did not establish a sufficient act of ouster or adverse possession necessary to sustain a prescriptive title against co-owners, thereby reaffirming the principle that co-owners must show both clear adverse possession and exclusion of other co-owners to prove prescription. The decision relied on precedents such as Corea v. Appuhamy and related authorities, emphasizing that acknowledgment of co-owners’ rights contradict