Hurhangee (Appellant) v Ramsawhook and others (Respondents) (Mauritius)

Case summary

Case ID

JCPC/2018/0049

Jurisdiction

Mauritius

Parties

Appellant(s)

Suvaranalata Hurhangee

Respondent(s)

Bhanubai Ganpatlall Ramsawhook and others

Issue

Whether the Court of Civil Appeal erred: (1) in finding that the 1st Respondent was the owner of the Land by acquisitive prescription, despite considering the issue of the 1st Respondent in fact having acquired title by deed of sale; (2) in not considering and giving effect to Article 2240 of the Mauritian Code Civil [i.e. that one cannot prescribe against one’s own title]; (3) in wrongly upholding the trial judge’s finding that the 1st Respondent had satisfied the 30-year period required for acquisitive prescription; (4) in not having regard to the requirement in article 2229 that the 1st Respondent have had uninterrupted, peaceful, public and unequivocal possession.

Facts

The Appellant and the 1st Respondent both claim to be owners of a portion of land in Mauritius (Land). The 2nd to 10th Respondents are the 1st Respondent’s children, while the 11th Respondent is the 1st Respondent’s son-in-law. The 12th Respondent is the public body responsible for keeping registers of the deeds and documents in relation to ownership of real property in Mauritius. The 1st Respondent purports to have occupied the Land between 1961 and 1995 (although the Appellant was apparently only informed of this in 1990). The 1st Respondent sought in 1998 to effect a division-in-kind of the Land, of which the 2nd to 11th Respondents were to be the beneficiaries. The Appellant challenges the 1st Respondent’s claim to any interest in the land.

Date of issue

27 April 2018

Judgment details

Judgment date

4 October 2021

Neutral citation

[2021] UKPC 25

Judgment links

Appeal

Justices

Lord Hodge

Lord Kitchin

Lord Sales

Lord Hamblen

Lord Burrows

Hearing dates

Start date

9 June 2021

End date

9 June 2021

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