Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Formality and registration
  • 7 Jan 1998

    LAU YUE KUI v. LAU LEUNG CHAU AND OTHERS

    Citation
    LAU YUE KUI v. LAU LEUNG CHAU AND OTHERS
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCMP3924/1995

    The court held the DFA of 20 March 1946 is valid and binding: no ancestral worship trust was shown to have been properly established (no required registration or other positive steps), the DFA was properly carried into effect by distribution, exclusive possession and receipt of rents and benefits over decades, formal defects did not invalidate it under Chinese custom or Hong Kong law, s.15 N.T. Ordinance did not negate the division in these circumstances, and equitable considerations favored maintaining the long‑standing division; accordingly the defendants' counterclaim alleging a binding on…