De Silva v. Weerasinghe – 1978_79_80 volume 1 page 334

In the case between the plaintiff-appellant (landlord) and the defendant-respondent (tenant), the court addressed whether a tenant’s change of use of residential premises to business use, and subsequent non-occupation, constituted grounds for eviction under section 28(1) of the Rent Act, No. 7 of 1972. It was held that section 28(1) of the Rent Act cannot be applied retrospectively to a period of non-occupation that commenced before the Act came into operation. The decision reaffirmed the principle that statutes, especially those affecting substantive rights, are presumed to have only prospective application unless Parliament clearly expresses otherwise. This determination relied upon established principles of statutory interpretation, including those found in Maxwell’s Interpretation of S