1. Preliminary Matters
Cause of Action & Locus Standi
Locus standi
 Meaning: Locus standi means P has a right/special interest to
commence an action (Gov of Malaysia v Lim Kit Siang)
 If there is no locus standi, the person has no cause of action (Atip
bin Ali v Josephine Doris Nunis)
 Can apply to strike out P’s SOC under O18 r19(1)(a) as it
discloses no reasonable cause of action and thereafter dismiss the
action under O19 r1
 Apply by NoA in Form 57 + Affidavit (O32 r1)
Cause of action
 Meaning: Cause of action accrues when there is a P who can sue, D
who can be sued and there are material facts to entitle P to succeed
(Lim Kean v Choo Koon)
 Time: Cause of action must arise before writ is issued (Simetech (M)
Sdn Bhd)
 Cause of action must be complete or it will be struck out (Taib bin
Awang v Mohamed bin Abdullah)
Limitation Period under Limitation Act 1953
1. Contract & Tort
a. General limitation period for contract & tort: 6 years from the date
on which cause of action accrued (S.6(1))
b. Negligence not involving personal injuries
1
- Limitation period: 3 years from the date of discovery (S.6A(2)), but
within 15 years from the date on which the latent defect occurred
(S.6A(3))
- Date of discovery: The date when the purchaser had knowledge of
the defect (S.6A(4))
c. Fresh accrual of action after limitation period set it
- Limitation period: From the date acknowledgement/part payment
was made by person liable/accountable for the debt (S.26)
- Requirement: Acknowledgement under S.26 shall be in writing and
signed by the person acknowledging it (S.27)
- Yam Kong Seng v Yee Weng Kai: SMS satisfied the writing and
signature requirement under S.27
2. Land recovery: 12 years from the date on which cause of action
accrued (S.9)
3. Breach of trust
a. Fraudulent breach: No limitation period (S.22(1))
b. Breach of trust: 6 years limitation period from the date action
accrued (S.22(2))
*If breach was concealed, time starts to run when P discovered/could
have discover with reasonable diligence (S.29)
4. Person under disability
 Extension of limitation period: Extension of 6 years when disability
ended (S.24 + S.6 LA 1953),
2
 Requirement: Extension applies only if disability exists before cause
of action accrues (Ling Towi Sing v Sino America Tours
Corporation)
 Disability ends when: Disability ceased; reached age of majority;
committee appointed; die
Limitation Period under Other Statutes
1. Public Authorities Protection Act (PAPA) 1948
 Limitation period: Must sue within 3 years (S.2). This limitation period
is strict - x extension (Tasja v Golden Approach)
 Requirement: The defendant must be the government or person
acting intra vires in executing public duty (S.2)
2. Civil Law Act 1956
a. Dependency claim: 3 years after death of deceased (S.7(5)Limitation period is absolute (Tasja)
b. Estate claim: 6 years for action brought by deceased (S.6(1)
Limitation Act 1953); within 6 months after LoA is taken out if action
is brought against the deceased (S.8(3) CLA 1956)
3. Arbitration Act 2005
 Limitation period: If a contract contains arbitration clause, the other
party can before taking any other steps in proceedings, apply to have
the action stayed until the dispute is settled by arbitration (S.10 AA
2005)
3
 Which means: A contract contains an arbitration clause and a dispute
arises btw the parties. When a dispute arises, B commenced an
action by writ in HC. A can either:a. Enter unconditional appearance in HC and then apply for a stay of
proceeding pursuant to S.10 AA; OR
b. Take other steps before/after applying for stay under S.10, which
means he wants to defend the action of B and S.10 will not apply
(Yeo Eng Lam)
When Raising Limitation Period as Defence
1. The defence of limitation must be specifically pleaded (O18 r8). After
that, apply to strike out under O18 r19(1)(b)/(d)
2. (For limitation under LA 1953) Court can refuse relief on the ground of
acquiescence/laches (S.32 LA 1953), D only need to show P’s delay
caused prejudice to him (Alfred Templeton v Low Yat Holdings)
Preliminary Objection
1. Jurisdiction objection
 Raised when: There is an irregularity that affects jurisdiction of court
 Effect: Such irregularity cannot be waived, no consent/waiver can
confer jurisdiction on a court that has none (Lee Teng Siong v Lee
Kheng Lian)
2. Technical objection
● General rule
- O2 r1(1): Non-compliance shall be treated as irregularity and shall
not nullify the proceedings
- O2 r2: Application to set aside for irregularity
- O2 r3: Preliminary objection for non-compliance allowed only if
non-compliance has occasioned a substantial miscarriage of
4
justice/prejudice that cannot be cured either by
amendment/appropriate order for costs or both
 Exception in ROC: The court or a Judge shall have regard to the
overriding interest of justice and not only to the technical noncompliance with these Rules” (O1A ROC 2012)
 Exception to O1A: O1A cannot apply when there is omission of a
requirement that is mandatory in nature or such omission was
intentional (Datuk Captain Hamzah FC Case)
Time
Computation
 Suresh v Jiang Guoliang: The date on which the cause of action
accrued will be excluded in computing lim. Period
 O3 r2(2): Where an act is required to be done within a specified
period after or from a specified date, the period begins immediately
after that date
 O3 r2(5): When the period in question is 7 days or less, public
holidays and weekly holidays shall be excluded
- Weekly holidays include Saturday and Sunday (Sivakadatcham
v CIMB Bank Bhd)
 O83 r2(2): For charge action beginning with OS, OS & A must be
served not <4 clear days before the first hearing of OS
Extension of Time
 Time can be extended by: Consent (O3 r5(3)) OR Order of court (O3
r5(1))
 Factors considered by court when deciding whether to grant
extension (Pearson v Chen Chien Wen Edwin)
1. Length of the delay
5
2. Reasons for the delay
3. Chances of the appeal succeeding if time for appealing is
extended
4. Degree of prejudice to the opposing party if the application is
granted
6