Akmeemana Mahanama Gamage Therabaya Gunasekara v. Lokunarangodage David De Silva et al. – SC APPEAL NO. 96/2010-2023

In the case between Akmeemana Mahanama Gamage Therabaya Gunasekara (Plaintiff-Appellant) and members of the Gunasekara family including Lokunarangodage David De Silva and Babynona Gunasekara (Defendant-Respondents), the Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether the Defendants had acquired title to the disputed land (“Haputantrigewatte”) by prescription, despite a prior life interest held by the Plaintiff’s mother, Rosa. It was held that, under the Prescription Ordinance, the Defendants’ period of adverse possession—when properly calculated by tacking periods before and after the life interest—satisfied the statutory ten-year requirement. The principle was reaffirmed that a period of adverse possession interrupted by a life interest may, pursuant to Section 3 of the Prescription Ordinanc