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41 judgments found.
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December 1991
Sale of registered family house without letters of administration and without Commissioner of Lands’ consent is void; appeal dismissed.
Land law
— Land registration ordinance and land regulations 1940 — consent of Commissioner of Lands
— Right of occupancy — disposability subject to statutory control
— Sale of registered land by family members — validity where seller is not registered personal representative
31 December 1991
An appeal is incompetent and struck out if the memorandum lacks the mandatory copy of the decree.
Appellate practice — Appeal procedure — compliance with procedural formalities essential for competency
Civil procedure
— mandatory requirement to attach copy of decree to memorandum of appeal — non‑compliance renders appeal incompetent
— preliminary objection — mandatory procedural defects may be sustained despite absence of prior notice
31 December 1991
Appeal allowed: letters revoked where administrator failed to file inventory; will construed to give widow entire estate if no children.
Probate law
— jurisdiction — Small‑value estate does not automatically invalidate appointment — Probate and Administration Ordinance s86
— Revocation of letters of administration — Grounds include failure to file inventory and mismanagement/squandering of estate — Probate and Administration Ordinance s49(1)(c)
Succession law — distribution of estate between widow, children and parents — Conditional gift to widow in absence of children — Effect on entitlement
30 December 1991
Appeal held time-barred: limitation runs from date the appellant was notified, not from counsel's later receipt of documents.
Civil procedure
— Appeal — Computation of limitation period — Period of appeal begins to run from date the decision is notified to the appellant personally, not from counsel’s receipt of certified copies
— Order 39 (requirement to accompany memorandum with judgment/decree) — compliance required and assessed from filed documents
29 December 1991
Court granted transfer of proceedings to another registry under Rule 7(4) after finding it fair and just.
Civil procedure — Transfer of proceedings
24 December 1991
A father remains statutorily liable to maintain his infant children regardless of their custody; mother may sue for maintenance.
Family law
— Custodian need not be the plaintiff to claim maintenance
— maintenance of children
— Procedural error where primary court required third party to sue
21 December 1991
Ex parte judgment granted where substituted service and plaintiff's evidence established entitlement to unpaid purchase price.
Civil procedure
— Ex parte judgment — requirement of valid service before ex parte proof and judgment
— Service of process — Substituted service and ex‑parte hearing
Contract law — Sale of goods — recovery of unpaid purchase price — Proof of price and payments
19 December 1991
19 December 1991
A child legitimized under customary law may inherit despite the deceased professing Islam; appeal dismissed with costs.
Probate law — Inheritance — illegitimate child legitimized — effect on succession despite deceased's Muslim faith — application of customary law to estate administration
16 December 1991
16 December 1991
Appeal dismissed; trial evidence established respondent's ownership by longstanding cultivation and witness credibility favored respondent.
Land law — ownership by occupation/clearance — Possession and improvement — Assessment of witness credibility on appeal
16 December 1991
A delayed inheritance claim was barred by limitation and defeated by the appellant’s proven purchase and long possession.
Land law — inheritance claims and burden of proof
Land law — Limitation
— appellate review of factual findings
— evidence of purchase and continuous possession supporting ownership
— late claims barred where unexplained delay exceeds statutory period for land (12 years)
13 December 1991
Appeal dismissing challenges to convictions for forgery, uttering and obtaining goods; sentences restructured to an effective 12-year term.
Criminal law
— Counts and charging — single transaction supporting single counts
— Forgery and uttering — printing and use of company documents in company’s name with intent to defraud — whether documents constituted forgery
— obtaining goods by false pretences — sufficiency of evidence
— sentencing — appropriateness, concurrent and consecutive terms, weight of accused’s silence
13 December 1991
Appeal dismissed: eyewitness and medical evidence proved grievous bodily harm; three-year sentence upheld.
Criminal law — Defence failure to call supporting witnesses — Sentence review and appellate interference
Criminal law — Grievous bodily harm — proof beyond reasonable doubt
— Eyewitness credibility
— Medical/exhibit corroboration
13 December 1991
Second appeal dismissed where respondent proved prior occupation and appellants' evidence was inadequate.
Land disputes — Land dispute
— appeal dismissed
— credibility of witnesses
— insufficiency of appellants' evidence
— proof of possession and/or title by occupation and development since 1976
13 December 1991
Temporary non-use does not equal abandonment; sale by non-owner void; appeal dismissed with costs.
Civil procedure — Costs
— appellate court will not disturb reasonable costs award
— trial witness travel and expenses relevant to assessment
Civil procedure — Remedies — injunction/mandatory order to remove vegetation obstructing access to land/well
Land law — Property law — ownership of water well — temporary non-use does not amount to abandonment
13 December 1991
13 December 1991
13 December 1991
An appeal filed out of time without an extension is incompetent and will be dismissed; District Court acquittal upheld.
Criminal law — Criminal appeal — timeliness of appeal
— acquittal on appeal
— appellate procedure
— court declines to extend time sua sponte
12 December 1991
Court lacks jurisdiction over appeals from primary courts; application to compel fresh grounds dismissed and appeal struck out.
Civil procedure
— Appeals — Appeals originating from Primary Courts — Competency of appeal
— applications — Compelling filing of grounds of appeal — Inappropriate where court lacks jurisdiction
12 December 1991
Appellate court quashed convictions where misdirected burden on alibi and witness inconsistencies rendered the prosecution case unsafe.
Criminal law
— alibi — accused does not bear burden to prove alibi
— alibi need only raise reasonable doubt — credibility of witnesses — inconsistent earlier statements and testimony in related case may render convictions unsafe — appellate intervention to quash convictions and set aside sentences where prosecution case is unreliable
12 December 1991
12 December 1991
11 December 1991
Where a matrimonial home was sold without the wife’s consent, nullification was inappropriate; monetary compensation for her share was ordered instead, and appeal dismissed.
Family law — Family/matrimonial property — sale of matrimonial home by one spouse without consent
— procedural requirement to frame central issues at trial
— relief by way of monetary compensation where nullification would prejudice third‑party rights or be impractical
6 December 1991
6 December 1991
Acquittal where prosecution failed to prove magistrate solicited or received a Shs.22,000/= bribe beyond reasonable doubt.
Criminal law — Corruption — Alleged solicitation and receipt of bribe by a magistrate — Reliability and corroboration of trap operations — Conflicting witness testimony and contested forensic evidence (anthracene powder)
6 December 1991
A trial nullified by non‑compliance with assessors must be retried; earlier judgments did not conclusively bar retrial.
Trial procedure — Trial with assessors — Non‑compliance with assessors' requirement — Trial nullity and retrial
Civil procedure — Res judicata — Prior proceedings lacked finality and did not bind present parties — Earlier proceedings not final on ownership where issue left open or parties differ
Land law — Operation Vijiji allocation — Lawfulness of allocation — Lawful reallocation may create a new chapter defeating res judicata
6 December 1991
6 December 1991
6 December 1991
Appellant’s land-ownership appeal dismissed after supplemental evidence established respondent’s ownership; costs awarded.
Land law — ownership dispute — Weight of evidence
Appellate practice — Appellate procedure — Leave to appeal — Time limits for applying for leave to appeal
5 December 1991
5 December 1991
4 December 1991
Appellate magistrate misdirected in overturning convictions and improperly castigating trial magistrate without hearing.
Criminal law — Administrative discipline
— improper judicial condemnation and ordering of refunds without hearing
— Use of administrative titles in judicial proceedings
Criminal law — appellate review — misdirection and overreach by appellate magistrate
Criminal law — Malicious damage to property — sufficiency of charge sheet — particulars of value and crop
4 December 1991
The appellant lawfully resisted an unlawful seizure; reasonable cause to report assault defeats the respondents' malicious prosecution claim.
Land law
— Civil tort — malicious prosecution — reasonable and probable cause to report assault where seizure was unlawful
— Evidence — admissibility of appellate criminal judgment in civil proceedings (held immaterial to outcome)
— Local/ward development law — seizure of property — statutory procedure — non-compliance invalidates seizure
4 December 1991
4 December 1991
A later suit claiming land already finally decided in civil case no. 52 of 1977 was barred by res judicata; execution, not a new suit, was the remedy.
Civil procedure — Res judicata — final judgment
— parties cannot relitigate same claim
— proper remedy is execution of an existing judgment, not filing a new suit
3 December 1991
Identification of a recovered pressure lamp and surrounding circumstances firmly established possession of stolen property; appeal dismissed.
Civil procedure — Appeal
— appeal dismissed
— Insufficiency of appellant’s explanations to raise reasonable doubt
Criminal law
— identification of property — Complainant identification of a pressure lamp linked to repair workshop sufficient to connect lamp to theft
— possession of stolen property — Items recovered in appellant’s house held to be stolen where identification and circumstances are cogent
3 December 1991
Reported
Specific performance ordered for land sale despite statutory consent issue because respondent’s declaration made the contract enforceable.
Specific performance; land disposition requires Commissioner’s consent under Land Regulations; part-performance and declaration of intent can make an executory land sale enforceable in equity
3 December 1991
Prosecution failed to prove non-deposit of collected public funds; convictions quashed for lack of proof beyond reasonable doubt.
Criminal law — False accounting — Proof of deposit into bank account — Weight of evidence: teller signatures and rubber stamps insufficient alone — Trial court’s duty to consider exculpatory documentary evidence
2 December 1991
Reported
Court restored divorce for cruelty, holding referral to conciliatory board dispensed where referral was impracticable under the Act.
Family law — Law of marriage act
— conciliatory board jurisdiction and validity
— divorce for cruelty
— impracticability of referral
— Muslim divorce remedies (faskh, khulu, mubarat, talaq)
2 December 1991
Court allowed divorce for cruelty, held referral to conciliatory board unnecessary where reconciliation would be impracticable.
Family law
— Grounds for divorce — Cruelty as ground for dissolution — Court’s power to dissolve marriage when reconciliation impracticable
— Marriage conciliation board — Validity of conciliatory board proceedings — Effect of section 104(7) of the Law of Marriage Act
— Conciliation requirement — Dispensing with referral to Conciliatory Board where referral would be a waste of time under section 101(f)
2 December 1991