Nawala Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Chandra Ranasinghe vs. Palitha Munasinghe and S.M. Munasinghe – SC APPEAL NO. 64/2014-2016

In the case between Nawala Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Chandra Ranasinghe (Plaintiff) and Palitha Munasinghe, S.M. Munasinghe, and related parties (Defendants), the court addressed the issue of whether the merger of dominant and servient interests in Lots 3, 4, and 5 extinguished a servitudinal right of passage over Lot 3 and whether the transfer of Lots 4 and 5 conveyed any continued right or servitude over Lot 3. It was held that the merger of rights on 18.02.1978 terminated any servitutal right, and mere recitals in the deeds did not suffice to preserve such a right absent explicit reservation. The principle reaffirmed is that the doctrine of merger extinguishes servitudes when both dominant and servient tenements vest in the same owner, aligning with authorities such as Perera Vs Samarako