Sri Lanka, March 15 -- This is a case about a property partition lawsuit. The original 4th defendant filed a claim, but none of the parties except the plaintiff showed up in court on the trial date. The court then ruled in favour of the plaintiff. Later, the 4th defendant tried to apply for special leave to argue his case, citing Partition Law, but his request was rejected by the District Court. The 4th defendant appealed this rejection to the Court of Appeal, but the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal because it considered the rejection an order, not a judgment. This column is about the appeal in the Supreme Court over the Court of Appeal's decision. (Ranjit v. Kusumawathie and Others - SLR - 232, Vol 3 of 1998 [1998] LKSC 6; (1998) 3 ...