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122 judgments found.
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July 2024
Failure to join a party to the original proceedings renders a review application incompetent and liable to be struck out with costs.
Civil procedure — Review — non-joinder of necessary parties — Right to be heard, Order XLII Rules 1 and 3, Civil Procedure Code
31 July 2024
Court enforces contractual arbitration clause and strikes out applicant's prematurely filed suit for failing to pursue arbitration.
Arbitration — Arbitration clause — effect on court jurisdiction
31 July 2024
An executing court's decision by a Deputy Registrar is binding; appeal or review, not reopening, is the proper remedy.
Civil procedure
— Execution — refusal where payment certified and recorded in absence of decree holder — Order XXI Rule 2(1)-(3)
— Registrar’s powers — Execution orders made under Order XLIII Rule 1 are decisions of the High Court and appealable to the Court of Appeal under AJA s.5(1)(b)(ix) — Functus officio
31 July 2024
Whether a respondent’s corporate name change defeats suit or may be corrected by amendment so proceedings proceed.
Civil procedure
— Costs — each party to bear own costs
— misnomer/amendment — court’s discretion to allow correction of corporate name under Order I when identity not in doubt
— Pleadings
— remedy — amendment in court rather than striking out
Company law — Change of name
— change does not affect assets or liabilities
— does not render corporate personality non-existent
31 July 2024
Appeal held timely: filing date is date court fees paid (exchequer receipt); preliminary objection overruled.
Civil procedure — Electronic filing — date of filing
— Distinction between party submission date and judicial assignment/filing date
— exchequer receipt evidences operative filing date
Limitation law — appeals — Filing date as date of payment/exchequer receipt vs e‑filing registration date — Court entitled to inspect e‑filing records and receipts
31 July 2024
Court pierced corporate veil and ordered directors' committal for dishonestly avoiding satisfaction of a decree.
Civil procedure — Execution — Arrest and detention of judgment debtor — Order XXI (rules 28, 35, 36, 39): concealment and bad faith as basis for committal
Companies law — Lifting the corporate veil — Fraudulent or dishonest use of company to defeat creditors
Contract law — Transfer of title — Failure to transfer property and refund — Use of corporate vehicle to perpetrate fraud
31 July 2024
Proceedings were nullified because the disputed immovable property was not sufficiently described, rendering the tribunal's orders unenforceable.
Appellate practice — Revisionary jurisdiction — High Court’s power
Civil procedure — Competence — proceedings are null where suit property is not properly described and decree would be unenforceable
Land law — sufficiency of description of immovable property
31 July 2024
31 July 2024
Second accused acquitted for lack of prima facie evidence; first accused committed to answer for murder.
Criminal law
— Case to answer — Prima facie evidence required before calling accused to defend — distinction between hearsay and admissible incriminating evidence
— Murder — forensic linkage (chief government chemist report) and eyewitness evidence as basis for sustaining prima facie case
Evidence — Confession — oral admission and caution statement relevant to committing an accused to answer
31 July 2024
Court acquitted three accused of terrorism charges for lack of corroboration, defective confessions and evidentiary gaps.
Criminal law — provision of funds
— admissibility and corroboration of confessional/cautioned statements
— standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt
— use of circumstantial evidence and its threshold
Criminal law — Terrorism offences
— conspiracy
— possession of explosives
31 July 2024
31 July 2024
Ex‑parte judgment set aside because defence was struck out after the court failed to notify parties of the mediation date.
Civil procedure
— Ex parte judgment — appeal not conditional on first setting aside ex‑parte decree — Automatic right of appeal under section 70(2) CPC
— mediation — Non-appearance at mediation — Dismissal for non-appearance
— striking out — discretion to strike out — Severe sanction to be sparingly applied to protect right to be heard
31 July 2024
Defective affidavit led to expungement and striking out of the applicant's application to pierce the corporate veil.
Civil procedure
— Affidavits — Facts within deponent's own knowledge and grounds of belief (Order XIX r.3(1) CPC)
— expungement of offensive paragraphs — Hearsay, assumptions and conclusions in affidavit liable to be struck out
Company law — lifting corporate veil — Application unsustainable where affidavit lacks factual foundation
31 July 2024
Court restored the applicant's suit dismissed for want of prosecution, finding sufficient cause and ordering reinstatement.
Civil procedure — Restoration of suit dismissed for want of prosecution — sufficient cause
31 July 2024
Taxing Officer exceeded prescribed fee scales; instruction and attendance fees reduced and taxed total set at Tshs. 1,100,000/=.
Legal profession — Advocates remuneration order — Scale of fees
Tax law — Taxation — Taxing Officer’s discretion
31 July 2024
Suit prematurely filed despite agreed arbitration clause; court struck out case and referred parties to arbitration.
Arbitration — Arbitration Act ss.14(1) and 15
— parties bound by contractual dispute-resolution clause
— referral to arbitration
Arbitration — Arbitration clause — forum selection — whether suit prematurely filed before arbitration
30 July 2024
Challenges to chain of custody and exhibit admissibility failed; heroin‑trafficking conviction upheld and appeal dismissed.
Criminal law — Narcotic drugs — Trafficking
— admissibility of exhibits and procedural formalities
— chain of custody requirements for exhibits
— corroboration by independent witness
— delay in sending samples to laboratory
— Sufficiency of evidence and burden of proof
30 July 2024
The applicant's appeal was dismissed as time-barred because filing is effected upon payment of court fees.
Civil procedure
— Filing/date of filing — A document is deemed filed when requisite court fees are paid
— Judicature and Application of Laws (Electronic Filing) Rules do not negate payment requirement — Electronic/system failure — Preliminary objection on competency for time bar
30 July 2024
Leave to defend granted where defendant's affidavit disclosed triable issues on NSSF liability and summary procedure.
Civil procedure — Summary proceedings — Leave to appear and defend under Order XXXV r.3(1)(b) — Requirements for disclosure of triable issues
Labour law — Social security contributions — Recovery of NSSF contributions and penalties by summary procedure — Applicability of Order XXXV and prior authorities
30 July 2024
Defects in seizure procedure and chain-of-custody doubts undermined possession proof despite chemist confirming cocaine, resulting in acquittal.
Criminal law — Drug trafficking
— Acquittal where procedural defects and contradictions create reasonable doubt
— Expert chemical analysis confirming cocaine and its valuation
— Proof beyond reasonable doubt
30 July 2024
30 July 2024
Appeal struck out as time‑barred; s19 Limitation Act exclusion requires a separate application for extension of time.
Civil procedure — Appeal time limits — appeal filed out of time without leave is incompetent and liable to be dismissed with costs — Land Disputes Courts Act s 45(2)
Limitation law — Limitation Act section 19(2) (exclusion for time obtaining judgment) is not automatic — requires application for extension of time — Law of Limitation Act s 19
30 July 2024
Conviction quashed where missing custodian broke chain of custody, rendering narcotics evidence unsafe.
Criminal law — Evidence — chain of custody — Missing documentation and unexplained gap between seizure and custody breaks evidential link
Criminal procedure
— Correction of clerical/recordal error — Curable under section 388 Criminal Procedure Act where no prejudice occasioned
— Duty to record remarks on witness demeanour in proceedings — Section 212 CPA — Omission not fatal where court did not rely on demeanour in its decision
30 July 2024
Failure to advise accused of right to recall witnesses after charge amendment vitiated trial; retrial ordered starting 17/10/2023.
Criminal procedure — Amendment of charge after witnesses have testified — Duty — Omission may vitiate proceedings — Retrial ordered where prejudice shown
29 July 2024
Failure to obtain statutory leave before seeking prerogative orders is a fatal procedural defect; application struck out.
Civil procedure
— Overriding objective — limitation on application where mandatory procedural rules go to jurisdiction or root of case
— preliminary objection — competence of pleadings — consequences of seeking substantive relief without leave
Judicial review — Judicial review procedure — Leave requirement
29 July 2024
High Court lacks jurisdiction to enforce a Resident Magistrate Court's certificate of payment; executing court has exclusive authority.
Civil procedure
— Government Proceedings Act s16(2) — scope of certificate/payment
— jurisdiction — Enforcement/execution of subordinate court decree
— preliminary objection — threshold jurisdictional question
— section 38(1) Civil Procedure Code — executing court's exclusive jurisdiction
29 July 2024
Court granted extension under s.361(2) CPA due to advocate's illness, fixing 14- and 45-day filing timelines.
Criminal procedure — Extension of time to file appeal
29 July 2024
The appellant held liable for repair, hire and punitive damages; general damages reduced and pre-judgment interest set aside.
Damages — Punitive/exemplary damages — Whether punitive damages were made out — Interest on decretal sum (Order 20, Rule 21 CPC)
Evidence — admissibility of copies — copies admissible only — Certified copy admissible
Tort — motor vehicle accident — negligence and vicarious liability of employer — Burden and standard of proof on insured status
29 July 2024
26 July 2024
A tribunal’s decision made beyond statutory powers and without affording the right to be heard is ultra vires and quashed.
Election law
— certiorari — quashing decisions of tribunals acting beyond jurisdiction
— Electoral law — statutory limits on appeals bodies
— natural justice — right to be heard
— ultra vires acts — assuming revisional powers
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
A foreign judgment and a consent settlement rendered the respondent's pending suit unmaintainable; the court struck it out.
Arbitration — recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards — Recognition of ICSID award and interplay with domestic settlements — Effect on related domestic litigation
Civil procedure
— recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments — Conclusiveness of foreign court decisions under s.11 Civil Procedure Code — Res judicata and bar to re‑litigation
— res judicata and functus officio — Effect of intervening foreign judgment and domestic consent decree on maintainability of pending suit — Abuse of process
26 July 2024
Applicant's failure to seek statutory revision to the Governor under BOT regulations deprived the High Court of jurisdiction.
Banking law — Banking and financial consumer protection — Requirement to exhaust BoT (Financial Consumer Protection) Regulations complaint and redress mechanisms before instituting court proceedings — Bank of Tanzania (Financial Consumer Protection) Regulations, G.N. No. 884 of 2019
26 July 2024
26 July 2024
Proven sickness of counsel (supported by hospital report) can constitute good cause to set aside a dismissal for non-appearance.
Civil procedure — Setting aside dismissal for non-appearance — Sufficient cause for non-appearance
Evidence — Proof of sickness — specifics (dates, hospitalization/sick sheet, travel) required to establish good cause
— Affidavit and uncontroverted hospital report sufficient
— counsel's submissions not evidence
25 July 2024
Applicant failed to show sufficient cause for extension of time to appeal; application dismissed with costs.
Family law — affidavits
— electronic filing difficulties do not automatically justify inordinate delay
— statements attributable to third parties require corroborating affidavits
Family law — Extension of time — Lyamuya guidelines
Family law — Law of Limitation Act s.39(2) — time to obtain copy excluded
Family law — Matrimonial appeals — computation of appeal period
25 July 2024
An appeals authority must reject, not dismiss, an out-of-time procurement appeal; dismissal exceeded its jurisdiction.
Procurement law — Procedural impropriety and jurisdiction
— dismissing an incompetent appeal exceeds authority’s powers
— Public Procurement Appeals Rules, rule 17(1) (rejection when conditions for institution not complied with) and duty to give reasons
Procurement law — Public procurement appeals — competence and timeliness — appeal filed out of time — correct remedy is rejection/striking out, not dismissal
25 July 2024
25 July 2024
Second appellate court refuses to disturb concurrent factual findings; appellant's right to be heard not infringed.
Civil procedure
— Re-evaluation of evidence by first appellate court — adjustment of monetary award
— Right to be heard — framing of issues by appellate court and whether substantive grounds were considered
— second appeal — concurrent findings of fact — restraint on interference absent misdirection or miscarriage of justice
24 July 2024
Respondent entitled to refund after auctioned property's transfer was blocked; general damages reduced for lack of proof.
Civil procedure — Res sub judice — Whether subsequent suit is directly and substantially the same as a pending suit between same parties
Damages — General damages — Assessment of general damages — General/nominal damages
Land law — Sale by auction of mortgaged property — Buyer's entitlement to refund where transfer obstructed by prior litigation
24 July 2024