A forged power of attorney, an uncorrected inheritance and a bulldozer
In 1965 the grandfather of the Qasem family registered 6 dunams of agricultural land near Salfit in the Tabu in his own name. He died in 1980. The heirs never registered the inheritance, and the family has cultivated the land ever since, paying the land tax and tending the olive terraces. In 2019 a developer produced a power of attorney purportedly signed by all the heirs in 2017, together with a sale contract, and registered the transfer of the whole 6 dunams in his own name. The power of attorney bears four signatures, but only two of the four living heirs actually signed; one signature is alleged to be forged, and the power was revoked in 2018 by a notarised notice. The developer has now begun bulldozing a terrace. The family holds the 1965 title deed and tax receipts. A neighbouring family has used a footpath across about one dunam of the land for the last 30 years.
1. What must be filed, and in what order, to stop the bulldozing and attack the registration? Include the urgent steps and the evidentiary steps.
Read the worked answer
1. This week - stop the works. Apply to the competent court for an interlocutory injunction prohibiting any further works, supported by an affidavit, the 1965 title deed, tax receipts, photographs of the bulldozing and dated witness statements. In parallel, register a caveat (notification of a claim) against the title at the Land Registry so the developer cannot sell, mortgage or further transfer while the case is pending. Ask for the injunction to be noted on the register too.
2. Objection to the registration. The Land Registration Law allows an objection to a completed or pending registration within a short period fixed by the law. Do not wait - a late objection is dismissed on the timeline alone. File the objection with the Land Registry, then the substantive action before the court for annulment of the transfer and rectification of the register in the heirs' names.
3. Criminal complaint. A forged signature and use of a revoked power of attorney support a complaint for forgery and use of a forged document. A criminal file helps: the handwriting expert's report, the notary's file, and the revocation notice can be obtained through the prosecution.
4. Evidence to assemble. (a) The original 1965 deed and the Tabu extract showing the grandfather as registered owner; (b) the inheritance certificate (hasr irth) from the Sharia court - obtain this at once, because the heirs' title flows from it; (c) the 2017 power of attorney in original, and the notary's register; (d) the 2018 revocation and proof of service on the developer; (e) the sale contract and proof of the price actually paid - a suspiciously low price suggests bad faith; (f) tax receipts, photographs of cultivation, and statements of neighbours and the mukhtar.
5. Time limit. A rectification claim is subject to limitation (commonly 15 years under the civil law in force - confirm the applicable West Bank regime). Here the transfer is from 2019, so the action is comfortably in time; record the date in the pleadings so it cannot be attacked later.
2. Does the family own the land even though the inheritance was never registered? Analyse the effect of registration, the power of attorney and the purchaser's position.
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1. Ownership passes on death, not on registration. On the grandfather's death in 1980 his heirs acquired their shares by operation of law. Registration of the inheritance is declaratory and confirms the shares; it does not create title. The family's problem is not that they are not owners - it is that the register no longer shows them as owners, and the register speaks loudly to third parties.
2. The register's effect. Under the land registration system the register is conclusive evidence of title, and a third party who acquires in good faith and for value, relying on the register, is protected. That is why the remedy is a court action to rectify the register, brought against both the developer and the registrar, not a mere administrative complaint.
3. The power of attorney. A power of attorney authorises acts in the principal's name; it does not transfer ownership by itself. Three defects: (a) two of the four heirs never signed, so the agent never represented them - their shares could not be sold at all; (b) the 2018 notarised revocation ended the authority, and any sale relying on it after that date is void as against the principals; (c) a forged signature is a nullity that no ratification can cure retrospectively without the true owner's informed consent.
4. The developer's good faith. He cannot be a protected purchaser if he knew or ought to have known of the defects. Prove notice: the revocation was notarised and served; the seller was acting under a power that had expired by its terms (check the date); the price was below market; the family was visibly cultivating the land and paying tax; and the sale covered all six dunams although the seller could not have represented all heirs. Ask the court to infer collusion.
5. Outcome sought. Annulment of the 2019 transfer, rectification of the register to the heirs' shares as determined by the inheritance certificate, cancellation of any mortgage registered by the developer, damages for the destroyed terrace and trees, and costs. If part of the land was validly sold by the two signing heirs, accept a partition or compensation for those shares rather than lose the whole claim.
3. The neighbouring family claims a right to keep using the footpath. How do you respond, and what does that claim do to the value and use of the land?
Read the worked answer
1. Frame the claim correctly. The neighbour is asserting an easement - a right of way over the Qasem land - either by express grant (there is none) or by long use. Long use alone is not enough: the use must be open, continuous, peaceable and referable to a right, and the applicable limitation period must be shown. Thirty years is a long period, but the neighbour must prove the quality of the use, not only its length.
2. Attack the evidence. Ask: was the path used as of right, or by tolerance? Palestinian village practice often treats a footpath as a permissive shortcut. Evidence of permission - the family never objecting, the path shifting with the crops, gates opened and closed - undermines a prescriptive claim. Also check whether the path existed before the grandfather's registration in 1965 and whether it appears on the Tabu map or the settlement maps; a route recorded as a public path is a different claim entirely (public dedication, not a private easement).
3. Procedure. The neighbour is not a party to the main action. Either join him so the point is decided once, or reserve the issue; if he sues later, the family's answer is limitation and the absence of any grant. Do not let the developer use the neighbour's claim as evidence that the family did not exclusively possess the land.
4. Practical consequence. About one dunam is burdened by the path. If the easement is established, it survives the rectification and reduces the usable area and the market value; compensation and the partition calculation must reflect it. If the claim is a public path, the land may be subject to expropriation or a set-back, which affects both the injunction application and the damages claim against the developer. Raise it early with the expert and the surveyor so that the rectified registration reflects the true extent of the burdened land.