ONG CHENG NEO V

YEAP CHEAH NEO

Presented by: Ong Ying Teng

 Judge : Hackett, J.
Name of Parties :
1. Ong Cheng Neo (Plaintiff, sister to Oh Yeo Neo)
2. Oh Yeo Neo (a Chinese woman who died in Penang
who made her Will)
3. Yeap Cheah Neo (Defendant who was appointed as
executor)
4. Khoo Siew Jeng Neo (Defendant who was appointed as
executor)
5. Lim Cheng Keat (Defendant who was appointed as
executor)

Material Facts:
Oh Yeo Neo, a resident from the island of Penan ceased, living behind him a will.
In the Will, the defendants were all appointed to be her executors.
Thus, the testatrix, by her Will devised and bequeathed, or in the language of
the Will, made over to her executors all such property and effects as should
belong to her at the time of her death, but in trust always, for the purpose of
thereinafter, to be mentioned. The plaintiff maintains that several of the trusts
declared by the Will, are bad in law and void, and therefore the subject matters
of these trusts are disposed of by the Will, and formed the undisposed residue of
the testatrix estate, and as such ought to be distributed among the next of kin
of the said Oh Yeo Neo, according to the Statute for the distribution of
Intestates estates.
When the English law was introduced, and issue was created saying which law
either customary law or English law are to be applied to verify the validity of the
will. It was held in the court that the trust was void as being perpetuity, and not
a charity. It was then brought to this court (Privy Council)

Issue:
Whether a devise of two plantations to be reserved as
the burial place of the deceased and his family and
another devise a house reserved for the purposes of
performing religious ceremonies (sow chong) were
valid as gifts for charitable purposes.

Judgement:
In considering what is the law applicable to bequests of
the above nature in the Strait settlements, it is
necessary to refer shortly to their history.
The first charter relating to Penang was granted by King
George III, in 1807, to the East India Company The
Charter made provision for the government of the
Island, and the Administration of Justice there. It
established a court of Judicature, which was to exercise
all the jurisdiction of the English Courts of Law and
Chancery, as far as circumstances admit.

 A new Charter was granted by George IV, in 1826, when

the Island of Singapore and the town and fort of
Malacca were annexed to Prince of Wales Island, which
conferred in substance the same jurisdiction on the
Court of Judicature as the former Charter had done.
The last Charter granted to the East India Company, in
the year 1855, again conferred the like powers on the
court; and this jurisdiction was altered in its
fundamental conditions by the Act 19th and 30th Vict.,
c.95, by which the Straits Settlements were placed
under the government of Her Majesty as part of the
colonial possessions of the Crown, nor by the Ordinance
No. 5 of 1868, constituting the present Supreme Court.

 With reference to this history, it is really immaterial to

consider whether Prince of Wales Island (Penang) should
be regarded as ceded or newly settled territory, for
there is no trace of any laws having been established
there before it was acquired by the East India Company.
In either view of the law of England must be taken to
the governing law, so far as it is applicable to the
circumstances of the place, and modified in its
application by these circumstances

 The learned Judge below has not, however, held the

gifts in question to be void on the ground that they
infringed any statute, but because they were opposed
to the rule of the English law against creating
perpetuities. Eventhough the English Law was
considered the law of Penang, the customary laws are
also being applied by the Malays, Chinese and Indians in
their community as stated by the Privy Council. This
means, customary law is also being practiced as a
custom, or if any customary issues occur it can be
referred straight to customary law, instead of English
law, which may or may not contradict with the English
law.

 Their Lordships think it was rightly held by Sir P. Benson

Maxwell, Chief Justice, in the case of Choa Choon Neoh
v Spottiswoode, that English statutes relating to
perpetuities seems to be applicable to the condition
such a place as Penang.
The devise of the two plantations in which the graves of
the family are placed, to be reserved as the family
burying-place, whether there is anything in Chinese
usages with regard to the burial of their dead which
would render such an appropriation of the land
beneficial or useful to the public. Their Lordships feel
unable to say that the decree on this point is wrong.

 The remaining devise to be considered, is the dedication

by the testatrix of the Sow Chong house for the
performance of religious ceremonies. This dedication of
this Sow Chong house bears a close analogy to gifts to
priests for masses dead. The learned judge was,
therefore right in holding that the devise being in
perpetuity, was not protected by its being for a
charitable use.
Held: Appeal dismissed and affirm the decision made by
Supreme Court.