The judicial decisions of two former top judges, whose appointments as additional judges were challenged, remain protected by the "de facto doctrine”, the Federal Court ruled today.

Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who chaired a five-member bench, said that even if the court were to accept the argument that the appointments of former chief justice Md Raus Sharif and former Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin were unlawful, their judicial decisions would continue to stand by virtue of the de facto doctrine.