BORKLOE & ORS
V.
HLORMENU & ANOR

VAN LARE J. In this case the plaintiffs sued for a declaration of ownership in respect of two swampy areas. The trial Native Court dismissed the plaintiffs' case and entered judgment for the defendants on the facts, which made it abundantly clear that ownership of the two swampy areas is in the defendants' family. The issue that was joined and tried was whether the plaintiffs' families or the family of the defendants owned the areas the subject-matter of the suit. Upon the evidence of the plaintiffs themselves it was admitted that original ownership of the areas in dispute was in the defendants' family but the plaintiffs' case is that the disputed areas had been granted to the plaintiffs' ancestors by the defendants' ancestors. Now the onus became clearly fixed on the plaintiffs to establish that the defendants' family had parted with and or transferred their ownership to the plaintiff families. It is clear on the evidence that this onus has not been discharged and the trial Native C…