The Federal Court delivered a significant clarification of the doctrine of total failure of consideration, restoring analytical discipline to an area of law that had drifted into uncertainty. In Lim Swee Choo & Anor v Ong Koh Hou & Another Appeal  [2025] 10 CLJ, the court disentangled restitutionary principle from contractual termination and, in doing so, has reset the architecture of Malaysian unjust enrichment jurisprudence.   At issue was a deceptively technical question:

Compulsory land acquisition often sits at the crossroads of constitutional protection and statutory rigidity. While Article 13 of the Federal Constitution guarantees a fair and adequate compensation in the realm of land acquisition, that constitutional promise may collide with the procedural trapdoors embedded within the Land Acquisition Act 1960 (LAA 1960).   For a dissatisfied landowner, the path to contesting the Land Administrator's award is not a simple plea for equity b

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations have moved from the margins to the centre of supply chain management, evolving from a voluntary or reputational exercise into a material legal, commercial and transactional risk. Companies are increasingly expected to take responsibility not only for their own operations, but also for the ESG performance of their suppliers, contractors and business partners across the value chain.   For Malaysian manufacturers integrat

A recent decision of the High Court highlights how procedural rules are being applied in an era of electronic filing, and how far courts are prepared to tolerate technical imperfections where no substantive prejudice is shown.   In Shine Technology Pte Ltd v Shine DC Technology Sdn Bhd (Companies (Winding-up) Petition No.: JA-28NCC-156-09/2025), the court considered whether affidavits containing scanned signatures and translated jurats were procedurally defective. The ruling

In structured finance, conditions precedent are not administrative formalities. They are the contractual mechanisms through which lenders manage risk in relation to legal, regulatory and operational aspects before capital is released. Their function is straightforward: no funds flow until specified conditions are met, and met on time. Borrowers who treat these timelines as flexible do so at their own risk. A recent Malaysian Court of Appeal decision underscores this point wit

Court victories in intellectual property disputes often carry an implicit assumption of financial reward. The recent High Court decision in Naili Holdings Sdn Bhd v Sabella Holdings Sdn Bhd  [2025] 11 MLJ 169 punctures that assumption. While infringement was clearly established, the court’s sharply reduced damages award serves as a cautionary tale for rights holders who conflate online visibility with evidential certainty.   The case offers a timely reminder that in civil lit

The recent decision of the High Court in Asia Media Sdn Bhd (In Liquidation) (Post Winding Up Application No. WA-28PW-356-06/2024) offers a timely reminder of where real power lies when a company enters liquidation. The ruling clarifies the weight to be given to creditors’ preferences in the appointment of private liquidators under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2016, a provision that has long left room for discretion and dispute. The dispute in Asia Media  was, on its face

In a recent decision (Award No. 1692 of 2025), the Industrial Court dismissed the unfair-dismissal claim brought by Vikram Singh a/l Muniandy (the Claimant), who is the Head of Aviation Security at the Pos Malaysia International Hub (PMIH), The court upheld Pos Malaysia Berhad’s (the Company) decision to terminate his employment. The Company was represented by the firm’s Senior Associate, Muhamad Sharunizam bin Mohd Roni. A Case Rooted In Governance Failures The dispute began

In a commercial landscape where contracts often multiply and overlap, particularly in engineering, energy and infrastructure projects, clarity is a rare commodity. Arbitration clauses, in particular, have long been a breeding ground for dispute: when parties sign several interlinked agreements, which documents actually bind them to arbitrate? The Court of Appeal’s recent decision in MTC Engineering Sdn Bhd v VME Process Asia Pacific Pte Ltd [2025] MLJU 3634 offers a sharp ans

Malaysia’s long-running tensions over short-term rental (STR) activity in strata developments have taken a significant turn, following a Court of Appeal ruling that clarifies the limits of management corporations’ powers and the status of private covenants seeking to restrict such use. The decision in Wawasan Raya Sdn Bhd v MARC Service Residence Management Corporation   [ 2025] 4 MLRA 1 provides some of the clearest judicial guidance yet in a sector where rapid growth of pla

Malaysia is preparing for a significant shift in its patent regime, with major reforms under the Patents (Amendment) Act 2022 and related regulations set to take effect on 31 December 2025. A notice issued by the Registrar of Patents on 10 October 2025 (Notice 1/2025) confirms that several long-anticipated provisions together with new subsidiary legislation will finally be enforced, ushering in a more transparent and adversarial patent framework. The changes carry wide-rangin

Intellectual property typically evokes familiar categories such as trademarks, patents or copyrights. Yet an increasingly important form of protection, particularly for food, agriculture and heritage-linked goods, is the geographical indication (GI). GIs certify that a product’s qualities, characteristics or reputation are intrinsically tied to a specific place of origin. The updated Geographical Indications Act 2022 (GIA 2022), which came into force on 18 March 2022, marks t

The Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Bukit Tinggi Hospital Sdn Bhd & Anor v Navin Sharma A/L Karam Chand & Anor [2025] MLJU 3236 marks a notable shift in the Malaysian judiciary’s approach to the assessment of damages in medical negligence cases. At a time when both the volume of claims and the amount of awards are rising, the judgment signals a more restrained, evidence-driven methodology particularly in relation to dependency claims, awards for pain and suffering and lo

Lawyers are often fond of ending correspondence with the now-habitual phrase: “All of our client’s rights are reserved.” Much like the delicate tulip atop a barista’s latte, it is as much form as function, so familiar, it can feel like mere legal decoration. But recent jurisprudence suggests that this time-worn phrase might carry more weight than previously thought. A Legal Reminder From The Court Of Appeal In Esa Jurutera Perunding Sdn Bhd v Universiti Malaya [2025] 2 MLJ 61

In a landmark move, Malaysia has amended its Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, effective July 2025, to criminalise all forms of...

In the realm of technology and IT service agreements, poorly defined obligations, ambiguous acceptance criteria and uncontrolled scope...

Aesthetic medicine is a field that is experiencing steady growth internationally, largely driven by the increasing societal emphasis on...

Injunctions are court orders that either require specific actions (mandatory injunctions) or prohibit certain actions (prohibitory...

In assessing contractual damages, the traditional Malaysian approach distinguishes strictly between expectation loss—the value of the...

History taking remains one of the most critical components of clinical assessment, guiding the formulation of differential diagnoses,...