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433 judgments found.
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April 2024
18 April 2024
16 April 2024
16 April 2024
Extension of time granted to file appeal due to technical delay and arguable illegality in trial proceedings.
Criminal procedure — Extension of time to file appeal — Technical delay resulting from prosecution of incompetent revision filed in good faith — Promptness of 16-day delay — Alleged illegality in trial proceedings as sufficient ground for enlargement of time
15 April 2024
12 April 2024
9 April 2024
An appeal filed in the name of a deceased appellant is a nullity and must be struck out.
Civil procedure
— Competency of proceedings — proceedings instituted in the name of a deceased person are nullities
— Remedies — nullity of proceedings filed by or against a deceased person — proper remedy is striking out
Probate law — Succession/estate
5 April 2024
Appellate court upheld incest conviction—victim’s testimony, medical evidence and cautioned statement sufficiently proved the offence.
Criminal law — incest by male
— admissibility and weight of cautioned statement
— proof of age without birth certificate
— proof of relationship and penetration
— victim's testimony and medical (PF3) corroboration
3 April 2024
March 2024
Applicant’s leave to apply for judicial review dismissed as time‑barred; limitation is jurisdictional.
Administrative law — Judicial review — statutory six‑month limitation for prerogative proceedings — Rule 6, Law Reform (Fatal Accidents and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Judicial Review Procedure and Fees) Rules, 2014
Civil procedure — Limitation — Time limits for filing references under the Law of Limitation Act and consequences of filing out of time — Dismissal of proceedings instituted out of time (s.46 & s.3, Law of Limitation Act)
Jurisdiction — Time‑bar as jurisdictional defect — Limitation goes to the court's jurisdiction and may be raised at any time
26 March 2024
Primary Court lacked jurisdiction to distribute estate and the administrator’s appointment was procedurally invalid.
Civil procedure — Appointment of administrator
— appointment in absentia and impersonation invalid
— compliance with 5th Schedule and G.N. No. 49 of 1971
Civil procedure — improper citation of procedural provisions curable — overriding objective
Civil procedure — Probate and administration — jurisdiction to distribute estate
26 March 2024
Court extended time to appeal due to apparent illegality in the tribunal decision despite weak delay explanations.
Civil procedure — Extension of time to appeal
Evidence — Evidentiary sufficiency — indigence and unproven caregiving do not automatically justify extension. Time limit imposed for filing appeal when extension granted
26 March 2024
DLHT jurisdiction upheld where Ward Tribunal failure certificate was pleaded and annexed; appeal dismissed for lack of evidential challenge.
Civil procedure
— Evidence — Submissions or fresh facts raised on appeal are not evidence
— Pleadings — Pleadings and annexures — Admissions and annexed documents may establish statutory prerequisites though pleadings alone cannot confer jurisdiction
— material evidence required to raise jurisdictional issues on appeal — Evidence
Land law — jurisdiction of DLHT — ward-tribunal mediation certificate
18 March 2024
Failure to afford the applicant an opportunity to be heard on suo motu issues vitiated the DLHT proceedings and order.
Land law
— locus standi and joinder — procedural objections raised by non‑party cannot be decided without hearing parties
— Remedy — de novo hearing before different chairman and assessors
— Trial procedure — right to be heard
18 March 2024
12 March 2024
Mareva injunction refused: interrelated prayers permitted but affidavit partly expunged and injunction conditions unmet.
Civil procedure — Affidavits
— advocate may depose only to matters in personal knowledge
— Affidavit defects: expunge offensive paragraphs if remainder supports application
Civil procedure — Compensation claims — pursued against original contracting party, not necessarily a third-party title holder
11 March 2024
Lower courts' matrimonial orders nullified for failing to determine rebuttable presumption of marriage under section 160.
Civil procedure — appellate scope — appellate court cannot entertain matters not raised or decided in lower courts
Family law — Matrimonial law — Cohabitation and presumption of marriage
8 March 2024
February 2024
A High Court sub‑registry cannot hear an appeal filed before its establishment; appeal struck out for want of jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction — High Court sub-registry — Competence of a High Court sub‑registry to entertain appeals filed before its establishment — Appeals must be heard where lodged
Civil procedure — Filing in wrong regional registry without commission direction vitiates jurisdiction — procedural consequence: award set aside and matter to be refiled in correct registry
22 February 2024
An appeal is incompetent where the notice and petition of appeal are filed in different registries and no valid notice supports the petition.
Civil procedure
— Competence — Filing notice and petition in different registries renders appeal incompetent
— Jurisdiction/registry — filings made before establishment invalid
Criminal procedure — Notice of appeal
13 February 2024
Notice and petition must be filed at the same registry; petition in Geita without notice there rendered appeal incompetent.
Criminal procedure — Notice of appeal — notice initiates appeal
13 February 2024
February 2022
Employer failed to prove alleged overspeeding; termination was unfair and compensation plus unpaid terminal benefits awarded.
Employment law — unfair termination — employer’s burden
— PF90 admissibility and probative value
— repatriation allowance entitlement
26 February 2022
March 2020
Whether hearsay and unproduced witness statements sufficed to establish a prima facie murder case.
Criminal law — section 293(1) Criminal Procedure Act — prima facie case to answer
Criminal procedure — No case to answer — Standard for prima facie case under s.293(1) Criminal Procedure Act
Evidence — Hearsay and sufficiency — Hearsay and unproduced witness statements
4 March 2020
June 2018
Equivocal preliminary‑hearing admissions and an untested post‑mortem plus unsafe night identification do not sustain a murder conviction.
Criminal procedure — post‑mortem report — improper reliance without compliance
Criminal procedure — preliminary hearing (s192(4))
— admitted facts deemed proved but may require formal proof
— equivocal admissions insufficient
Evidence
— Burden of proof — prosecution’s duty to prove death, cause and link to accused never shifts to accused
— Visual identification — caution required in unfavourable night/time/distance circumstances (Waziri and subsequent authority)
8 June 2018
A vague dying declaration naming 'in‑laws' without independent corroboration was insufficient to convict; accused acquitted.
Criminal law — dying declaration — admissibility versus sufficiency for identification — no-case-to-answer and acquittal
8 June 2018
February 2018
Victim’s credible testimony and corroborative medical evidence upheld conviction; impotence defence unproven.
Criminal law — Unnatural offence (sodomy) — proof of penetration — Medical evidence
Evidence — Criminal burden of proof
— Burden of proof on impotence defence
— court inspection of private parts improper
3 February 2018
August 2015
Provocation and self‑defence reduced liability to manslaughter; 2½ years' remand deemed sufficient, release ordered.
Criminal law — provocation and self‑defence — Use of force and absence of intent
Criminal procedure — sentencing credit — Credit for time spent in remand custody under s.172 Criminal Procedure Act — Immediate release when remand equals sentence
10 August 2015
April 1992
Night‑time visual identification found unsafe; both accused acquitted for lack of reliable identification evidence.
Criminal law — Murder: identification and credibility of eyewitnesses — Ocular identification and credibility (contradictions on place and visibility undermining prosecution case) — Visual identification (Waziri Amani v R)
Criminal procedure — No case to answer — prima facie test at close of prosecution’s case
30 April 1992
Accused proved to have killed the deceased but acquitted by reason of insanity and ordered detained for treatment.
Criminal law — murder versus insanity — medical and witness evidence establishing legal insanity — special finding — detention as criminal lunatic pending Minister's order
23 April 1992
April 1982
Whether provocation, intoxication or accident negated the intent to kill in a fatal domestic assault.
Criminal law
— Homicide: murder versus accidental killing — Whether injuries were consistent with an accidental fall — Penal Code s 10
— Intoxication and temporary insanity — Distinction between insanity and capacity to form specific intent for murder
— Murder/Provocation — Whether insults, disobedience and a bite reduced murder to manslaughter — Penal Code ss.201 — 202
29 April 1982
Whether the accused’s fatal stabbing was murder or lawful self‑defence given an ongoing threat from an armed assailant.
Criminal law
— Murder — self‑defence — Whether malice aforethought was established where the accused stabbed an armed assailant after escape
— Self‑defence — requirement of reasonable and proportionate force
22 April 1982
March 1982
A valid notice to quit ends a periodic tenancy; holdover obliges payment of agreed rent and mesne profits absent landlord consent.
Tenancy — notice to quit terminates periodic tenancy; holding over creates tenancy on sufferance — unilateral rent increase ineffective without agreement — arrears assessed at agreed rent — mesne profits recoverable for unauthorised occupation — vacant possession academic if premises vacated before judgment.
26 March 1982
Appellant’s late denial of paternity rejected; customary law requires only a token redemption payment, appeal dismissed.
Family law — redemption/legitimization of children born out of wedlock — application of Section 181, Local Customary Law Declaration (No.4)
— appellate review of discretionary reduction of customary redemption sum
— quantum is token for legitimization, not child maintenance
24 March 1982
Proceedings quashed and retrial ordered where magistrate’s conduct and assessors’ comments created reasonable apprehension of bias.
Civil procedure — remedy
— Proceedings quashed
— retrial de novo ordered under s.90 Law of Marriage Act, 1971
Criminal law — Assessors’ views — recorded comments creating perception of bias
Evidence — Evidence procedure — witnesses called out of order — breach of elementary trial procedure
Family law — Matrimonial law — procedural fairness — reasonable apprehension of bias — magistrate making orders of own motion without hearing parties
23 March 1982
23 March 1982