Mohamed Lebbai vs. Mohamed Abiyar and Others – sllr 2021 volume 1 page 022

In Mohamed Lebbai v. Mohamed Abiyar and others, the Supreme Court addressed the validity of a deed of gift (P1) and its purported revocation by Marimuttu. The central issues included whether there was tacit or actual acceptance of the gift by the donee, Rajendran, and whether the revocation of the gift deed was lawful in the circumstances. The Court held that the deed of gift had been validly accepted, rendering the subsequent revocation ineffective. It was reaffirmed that acceptance of a gift may be inferred from the conduct of the parties and that Kandyan law, being personal and not territorial, did not apply since the donor was not subject to it. The procedural principle that new factual matters not raised at trial cannot be entertained on appeal was emphasized. The appeal was dismissed