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- Is amended by Tanzania Court of Appeal (Amendment) Rules, 2024
- Is amended by Tanzania Court of Appeal (Amendment) Rules, 2025
- Is commenced by Court of Appeal Rules (Date of Commencement) Notice, 2010
- Repeals Tanzania Court of Appeal Rules, 1979
Tanzania
Appellate Jurisdiction Act
Tanzania Court of Appeal Rules, 2009
Government Notice 368 of 2009
- Published in Government Gazette on 6 November 2009
- Assented to on 25 September 2009
- Commenced on 1 February 2010 by Court of Appeal Rules (Date of Commencement) Notice, 2010
- [This is the version of this document as it was from 6 November 2009 to 21 March 2024.]
Part I – Preliminary provisions
1. Citation and commencement
2. Administration of the Rules
In administering these Rules, the Court shall have due of the Rules regards to the need to achieve substantive justice in the particular case.3. Interpretation
In these Rules, unless it is otherwise expressly provided or the context so requires Otherwise—“Act” means the Appellate Jurisdiction Act or any other Act amending or replacing it;[Cap.141]"advocate" means a person who, under rule 33, has a right of audience before the Court;"appeal" in relation to appeals to the Court, includes an intended appeal;"appellant" means a party appealing from a decision, decree or order of the High Court or tribunal and includes the legal practitioner retained or assigned to represent him in the proceedings before the Court;"appellate jurisdiction" in relation to the High Court includes its Tanzania Court of Appeal jurisdiction in matters of revision, review, reference, and point of law reserved;“appointed day” means the date on which these rules shall come into force;"appropriate registry" has the meaning assigned to it by rule 6;"Chief Justice" means the Chief Justice of the United Republic of Tanzania and includes an Acting Chief Justice or a Justice of Appeal appointed under Article 118 of the Constitution to perform the duties of the Chief Justice;"Constitution" means the Constitution of Tanzania entitled "Katiba ya Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, ya Mwaka 1977, and includes any amendment thereto or modification thereof or any enactment replacing it or the English translation, if any, of that Constitution published in the Gazette;[Cap.2]"Court" means the Court of Appeal of the United Republic of Tanzania established by the Constitution, and includes any division of that Court and a single Judge exercising any power vested in him sitting alone;“Court appealed from” includes a Tribunal or any other judicial body from which an appeal is preferred to the Court;“Court vacation” means a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, including the 15th December to 31st January and from the second Saturday before Easter to the first Tuesday after inclusive, and any other day on which the Registry is closed;"Deputy registrar" means a deputy registrar of the Court, and includes any officer of the High Court appointed by the Chief Justice to be a deputy registrar of the Court;"High Court" means the High Court of the United Republic of Tanzania established by the Constitution and, for the purposes of appeals to the Court, includes a subordinate court with extended jurisdiction from which an appeal may lie direct to the Court; and the expression "trial judge" includes a magistrate exercising extended jurisdiction;"Judge" means a Judge of the Court acting as such;"Judgment" includes a decree, order, sentence or determination of any Court, Tribunal, Judge or Judicial Officer;“Judgment of the Court” includes any order made by the Court;“Justice” means a Justice of the Court;“legal representative” means a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased person, and includes any person who intermeddles with the estate of the deceased and where a party sues or is sued in a representative character, the person on whom the estate devolves on the death of the party so suing or sued;"notice of appeal" in relation to a criminal appeal, means a notice lodged in accordance with rule 68, and, in relation to a civil appeal, means a notice lodged in accordance with rule 83;"notice of cross-appeal" means a notice lodged in accordance with Rule 94;"notice of grounds for affirming the decision" means a notice lodged in accordance with rule 100;“Presiding Justice” means, on to the hearing of any appeal or application or to the delivery of judgment on an appeal, the Presiding Justice of the Court as constituted for that appeal;"prison" means a prison established or deemed to have been established under section 23 of the Prisons Act, and includes any other place of detention to which any person may have been committed by a court;[Cap.58]“record” means the aggregate of papers relating to an appeal or application (including the pleadings, proceedings, evidence, judgments and briefs) proper to be laid before the Court on the hearing of an appeal or application;"Registrar" means the Registrar of the Court, and includes a deputy registrar of the court;"Registrar of the High Court" means the Registrar of the High Court or tribunal and includes a deputy registrar or acting deputy registrar of that court or tribunal;"Registry" means the Registry of the Court and, where one has been established, includes a sub-registry of the Court;"respondent", in relation to a civil application, includes any person on whom the notice of motion has been served and, in relation to a civil appeal, includes any person on whom a notice of appeal has been served and any person directly affected by the appeal, or on whom a notice of cross appeal has been served; and in criminal appeal means the person who undertakes the defense of the judgment appealed against and includes the legal practitioner retained or assigned to represent them in the proceedings before the Court;“Treasury” means the Treasury in the Ministry of Finance.“reference to a party to an appeal” shall include the advocate acting for that party in the appeal, but an advocate shall not be deemed to be acting for a party by reason only of his having acted for that party in the proceedings from which the appeal is brought;“Rules” means these rules or any amendment thereto or any other additional Rules made thereto, and includes the Schedules appended to these Rules;“Sub-registry” means every registry of the High Court and other such sub-registries of the Court established under the Tanzania Court of Appeal (sub-registries) (Establishment) Order.Part II – General administrative and procedural provisions
4. Practice and procedure of Court
5. Language of the Court
The language of the Court shall be either English or Kiswahili, as the Chief Justice may direct or as the case may be the Presiding Justice may direct, but the judgment, order or decision of the Court shall be in English.6. Registry and sub-registries
7. Registrar
The Registrar appointed under the provisions of the Constitution shall be the chief administrative officer of the Court.8. Computation of time
Any period of time fixed by these Rules or by any decision of the Court for doing any act shall be reckoned in accordance with the following provisions—9. Court vacation
Save as is provided in Rule 8, in computing time limited for any act or proceeding under these Rules a court vacation shall not be reckoned unless that day is the last day of that time, in which case it shall be excluded from that computation.10 Extension of time
The Court may, upon good cause shown, extend the time limited by these Rules or by any decision of the High Court or tribunal, for the doing of any act authorized or required by these Rules, whether before or after the expiration of that time and whether before or after the doing of the act; and any reference in these Rules to any such time shall be construed as a reference to that time as so extended.11. Suspension of sentence and stay of execution
12. Form of documents for use in proceedings of Court
13. Power of Registrar or Registrar of High Court
14. Acceptance and rejection of documents
15. Hours for lodging documents
Except during vacation and on Saturdays and holidays, offices of the registry of the Court and its sub registries shall, subject to any direction by the Chief Justice, be open daily from nine O’clock in the forenoon to One O'clock in the afternoon.16. Document may be lodged otherwise than at appointed place
17. Signature on documents
18. Endorsement of documents lodged
Whenever any document is lodged in the Registry, subregistry of the Court, or in the registry of the High Court, or tribunal under or in accordance with these Rules, the Registrar, or Deputy Registrar, or the Registrar of the High Court or any other officer, of the court appointed for that purpose, as the case may be, shall forthwith cause it to be endorsed, showing the date and time when it was lodged.19. Numbering of applications and appeals
20. Form of amendments
21. Maintenance of registers
22. Process of Court and service
23. Signature and sealing of summonses, etc.
Every summons, warrant, order, notice or other mandatory process of, or formal document issued by, the Court shall be signed by a Justice or by the Registrar and shall be sealed with the seal of the Court.24. Change of address for service
A person who has given an address for service may at any time change his address for service by lodging a notice of such change in the appropriate registry and serving copies of it on all persons who have been served with the previous address.25. Locus of appeals and notice of sittings
26. Business during vacations
27. Composition of Court at sitting
Save where a matter is dealt with by a single Justice, for the purpose of hearing any appeal or application, the Court shall consist of three Justices selected by the Chief Justice for that purpose.28. Power of a single Justice
A single Justice may exercise any power vested in the Court, which does not involve the decision of an appeal, revision, reference, review or any other proceeding whose determination requires the full Court, but if any Justice rejects any application for the exercise of the power, the person making that application shall be entitled to have his application determined by the Court.29. Appeals to be heard in court
30. Appearances
31. Assignment of advocates
32. Change of advocate
33. Right of audience of advocates
34. List of authorities and copies of judgment to be referred to
35. Order of addresses
36. Power to reappraise evidence and to take additional evidence
37. Power to call for report
In dealing with any appeal before it, the Court may, if it lor report thinks fit call for and receive from the trial court a report on any matter connected with the trial proceedings.38. General powers of the Court
The Court may, in dealing with any appeal so far as its jurisdiction permits, confirm, reverse or vary the decision of the High Court or Tribunal or remit the proceedings to the High Court or Tribunal with such directions as may be appropriate, or to order a new trial, and to make any necessary incidental or consequential orders including orders as to costs.39. Judgment
40. Decisions to be embodied in orders
41. Preparation of orders
42. Correction of errors
43. Notification of decisions
Part III – Applications
44. Application for leave to appeal or for certificate of point of law
45. Application for leave to appeal in civil matters
46. Order of application and notice of appeal
47. Applications to High Court first
Whenever application may be made either to the Court or to the High Court, it shall in the first instance be made to the High Court or tribunal as the case may be, but in any criminal matter the Court may in its discretion, on application or of its own motion give leave to appeal or extend the time for the doing of any act, notwithstanding the fact that no application has been made to the High Court.48. Form of applications to Court
49. Supporting documents
50. Applications for leave to amend
51. Applications to be lodged in appropriate registry
52. Where application is lodged in subregistry
When an application to be heard by a single Justice is lodged in a sub-registry, the deputy registrar shall send it to the Registrar, together with the original record.53. Applications during vacations
54. Number of copies of applications required
55. Service of notice of motion
56. Affidavits in reply
57. Abatement of applications
58. Withdrawal of application
59. Adjournment of application
The Court may, upon good cause shown, adjourn the hearing of an application upon such terms and conditions as to costs as it may think fit.60. Hearing of applications by a single Justice
61. Reference from decision of a single Justice
62. Reference from decision of a single Justice
63. Procedure on non-appearance
64. Rescinding of orders
Part IIIA – Revision
65. Institution of a revision
Part IIIB – Review
66. Institution of a review
Part IV – Criminal appeals
67. Application of Part IV
This Part of the Rules shall apply only to appeals and revisions from the High Court acting in original appellate and revisional jurisdiction in criminal cases and to matters relating to them.68. Notice of appeal
69. Consolidation of appeals
70. Transmission of notices of appeal
On receipt of a notice of appeal, the Registrar of the High Court shall forthwith send a copy each to the Registrar and to the respondent named in the notice.71. Preparation of record of appeal
72. Memorandum of appeal
73. Supplementary memorandum
74. Presentation of arguments in writing
75. Where appellant is in prison
76. Transmission of record etc., to the Court
77. Withdrawal of appeals
78. Abatement of appeals
79. Notice and time of hearing
80. Appearance at hearing and dismissal for non-appearance
81. Arguments at hearing of an appeal
Part V – Appeals in civil matters
82. Application of Part V
This part shall apply only to appeals from the High Court or a tribunal, acting in original, revisional and appellate jurisdiction in civil cases and to matters relating to them.83. Notice of appeal
84. Service of notice of appeal on person affected
85. Transmission of notice of appeal
On receipt of a notice of appeal lodged under the provisions of Rule 83, the Registrar of the High Court shall forthwith send one copy of it to the appropriate registry.86. Respondent to give address for service
87. Death of respondent before service of notice
A notice of appeal shall not be incompetent by reason only that the person on whom it is required to be served was dead at the time when the notice was lodged but a copy of the notice shall be served as soon as practicable on the legal representative of the deceased.88. Separate notices of appeal from same decision
89. Application to withdraw a Notice of Appeal and to strike out notice of appeal or an appeal
90. Institution of appeals
91. Effect of default in instituting appeal
If a party who has lodged a notice of appeal fails to institute an appeal within the appointed time92. Death of party to intended appeal
93. Memorandum of appeal
94. Notice of cross-appeal
95. Contents of decrees and orders for purposes of appeal
96. Record of appeal
97. Service of memorandum and record of appeal
98. Notification and transmission of papers to Registrar
99. Preparation and service of supplementary record
100. Notice of grounds for affirming decision
101. Service of notice of cross-appeal or of grounds for affirming decision
102. Withdrawal of appeal
103. Appeal by respondent where appeal withdrawn
104. Withdrawal of notice of cross-appeal or of grounds for affirming decision
105. Death of party to appeal
An appeal shall not abate on the death of the appellant or the respondent but the Court shall, on the application of any interested person, cause the legal representative of the deceased to be made a party in place of the deceased.106. Presentation of written submissions
107. Preliminary objection
108. Notice of hearing
The Registrar shall give all parties to an appeal not less than fourteen days' notice of the date fixed for the hearing of the appeal; but it shall not be necessary to give that notice to any party with whose consent the date for the hearing was fixed.109. Additional parties
110. Consolidation of appeals
The Court may for sufficient reason order any two or more appeals to be consolidated on such terms as it thinks just or may order them to be heard at the same time or one immediately after the other or may order any of them to be stayed until after the determination of any other of them.111. Amendment of documents
The Court may at any time allow amendment of any notice of appeal or notice of cross-appeal or memorandum of appeal, as the case may be, or any other part of the record of appeal, on such terms as it thinks fit.112. Appearances at hearing and procedure on non-appearance
113. Arguments at the hearing of an appeal
114. Orders as to costs
115. Immaterial errors
No judgment, decree or order of the High Court shall be revised or substantially varied on appeal, nor a new trial ordered by the Court, on account of any error, defect or irregularity, whether in the decision or otherwise, not affecting the merits, or the jurisdiction of the High Court; and in the case of a second appeal this Rule shall be construed as applying to both the trial court and the first appellate court.116. Judgment
117. Order for retrial
Part VI – Fees and costs
118. Fees payable
Subject to the provisions of Rule 126 and Rule 128, the fees set out in the Second Schedule shall be payable in respect of the matters and services specified in that Schedule save that—119. Time of payment of fees
120. Assessment or taxation of costs
121. Assessment or taxation of costs
122. Costs improperly incurred
If it appears to the Court that costs have been incurred improperly or without reasonable cause, or that by reason of any undue delay in proceeding under any judgment or order, or of any misconduct or default of the advocate, any costs properly incurred have nevertheless proved fruitless to the person incurring them, the Court may call on the advocate by whom such costs have been so incurred to show cause why those costs should not be borne by the advocate personally, and thereupon may make such order as the justice of the case may require.123. Improper agreement for remuneration
Any agreement whereby the remuneration of an advocate or any amount of it is dependent upon the result of any proceedings in the Court shall be void.124. Taxation
125. Reference on taxation
126. Waiver of fees in criminal appeals
127. Refund of fees paid in criminal appeals
Where an appeal is allowed from the High Court in its appellate jurisdiction, the Court may for sufficient reason order the refund to the appellant of the fees or any part of them paid by him under these Rules.128. Relief from fees and security in civil appeals
Part VII – Miscellaneous provisions
129. Revocation G.N. No. 103 of 1979
The Court of Appeal rules are hereby revoked.130. Transitional provisions
In all proceedings pending whether in the Court or High provisions Court, preparatory or incidental to, or consequential upon any proceeding in court at the time of the coming into force of these rules, the provisions of these rules shall thereafter apply, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done;History of this document
31 January 2025 amendment not yet applied
22 March 2024 amendment not yet applied
01 February 2010
06 November 2009 this version
25 September 2009
Assented to
Cited documents 0
Documents citing this one 83
Judgment 83
Subsidiary legislation
Title
|
Date
|
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Amri ya Marekebisho ya Amri ya Kuanzisha Masjala Ndogo za Mahakama ya Rufani ya Tanzania ya Mwaka 2025 | Government Notice 51 of 2025 | 24 January 2025 |
Amri ya Kuanzisha Masjala Ndogo ya Mahakama ya Rufani ya Tanzania katika Mkoa wa Dar es Salaam ya Mwaka 2025 | Government Notice 50 of 2025 | 24 January 2025 |