Sudath Sugeeshwara Bamunu-Arachchi vs Mahinda Dematagolla – SC APPEAL 80/2022-2024

In the case between Sudath Sugeeshwara Bamunu-Arachchi (Plaintiff-Respondent-Appellant) and Mahinda Dematagolla (Defendant-Appellant-Respondent), the court addressed whether adverse possession commenced upon the defendant’s purchase of his land or only upon intentional possession of the plaintiff’s land, and whether mere physical possession without the intention to claim ownership and without the knowledge of the true owner could lead to prescriptive rights under Section 3 of the Prescription Ordinance No. 22 of 1871 (as amended). It was held that no prescriptive title could be established without the necessary intention to possess the land adversely. The legal principle reaffirmed that possession must be both physical and accompanied by an open, notorious, and unequivocal intention to cla