Anulawathi vs Weerasinghe Bandara – sllr 2012 volume 2 page 028

In the case between Anulawathi (Plaintiff-Appellant) and Weerasinghe Bandara (Defendant-Respondent), the Supreme Court examined whether the longstanding practice of addressing a Notice of Appeal and Petition of Appeal in a form differing from the explicit requirements of Sections 754(3) and 754(4) of the Civil Procedure Code could be accepted by the court. The dismissal of the appeal by the Civil Appellate High Court was predicated on a technicality concerning the addressing of the Notice and Petition, not in accordance with strict statutory mandate. It was determined that the continuous and established judicial practice—recognized for over a century—carries authoritative value, and such administrative tradition should not lightly be disregarded, even in the face of strict statutory wordin