Registered sale deeds and passing of consideration: a stranger to the transaction cannot defeat title by disputing consideration.

A rank trespasser, being a stranger to the registered sale deeds and deriving no interest from the true owner, could not dispute the passing of consideration to defeat the plaintiffs' title. Once execution of a sale deed is admitted or proved, the deed operates as a transfer unless the transaction is shown to be void, and the burden to challenge consideration lies only on a person competent to question it. As the defendant was not a party to the transaction and did not claim through either party, he could not invoke alleged non-passing of consideration or rely on specific performance or part performance to resist the plaintiffs' conveyances.

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Issues: Whether a rank trespasser and stranger to the sale deeds could challenge the passing of consideration and thereby defeat the plaintiffs' title under the registered conveyances.

Analysis: The finding that the defendant was a rank trespasser and had derived no interest from the true owner meant that he was not a party to the transaction and did not claim through either party to it. In such circumstances, the challenge to the passing of consideration was not open to him. The rule applied was that once execution of the sale deeds is admitted or proved, the deed operates as a transfer unless the transaction is shown to be void, and the burden to dispute consideration lies on a person competent to question it. The defendant, being a stranger to the contract, could not invoke the alleged non-passing of consideration, nor could he claim the protection of specific performance or part performance.

Conclusion: The objection to consideration was untenable, and the plaintiffs' title under the sale deeds could not be defeated by the defendant.

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