D.B. Rajapakse v. Gunaseeli Wanasinghe Rajapakse – CASE NO. 601/97-2018

In the case between Hatana Devage Vimalawathie Rajapakse (Plaintiff-Respondent) and Gunaseeli Wanasinghe Rajapakse (4th Defendant-Appellant) with others, involving inheritance rights to ancestral land under Kandyan law, the key issue concerned whether Sawwani (the Plaintiff’s mother), having entered a digamarriage and thereby forfeited her paternal inheritance rights, subsequently reacquired binna rights through her actions and those of her family. It was held that reacquisition of binna rights was established by evidence of Sawwani’s return to the parental home and acquiescence of her brothers, satisfying customary law requirements. The appeal was dismissed on the basis that the factual and legal standards for reacquisition of inheritance rights were met. This decision affirms the princip