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Citation
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Judgment date
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| October 2025 |
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16 October 2025 |
| May 2025 |
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13 May 2025 |
| April 2025 |
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30 April 2025 |
| June 2012 |
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Appeal dismissed: respondent proved receipt of only 800kg; appellant must deliver remaining 200kg or pay Tshs.400,000.
Contract – sale of goods (coffee) – disputed delivery quantity; Evidence – admissibility of secondary evidence (photocopies) with explanation; Credibility findings – endorsement on document and witness testimony; Res judicata/abandonment – prior unappealed judgment limiting relief.
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21 June 2012 |
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Failure to produce a will renders the estate intestate; Form I suffices and clan minutes are not legally required.
• Probate & Administration – intestacy – applicant's duty to produce will and comply with rules; failure leads to presumption of intestacy.
• Procedure – Primary Courts (Administration of Estates) – application by prescribed Form I sufficient; clan meeting minutes are practice, not mandatory legal requirement.
• Evidence – clan meeting existence and consent to nomination; signature challenges insufficient without proof.
• Relief – court may appoint impartial persons as administrators; administrator ≠ automatic heir; appointment can be joint to prevent delay.
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20 June 2012 |
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Appellant failed to prove family ownership or lawful administrator status; appeal dismissed with costs.
Land law — family/clan land — burden of proof to establish family ownership; Administrator of estate — appointment requires court order/statutory forms, family nomination alone insufficient; Locus standi — claimant must show lawful authority to sue as administrator; Sale of land — valid where vendor lawfully owns property.
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19 June 2012 |
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Acquittal where circumstantial evidence, missing key witnesses and inconclusive forensic proof failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Criminal law – Murder – circumstantial evidence must be watertight to exclude innocent hypothesis – alibi (s.194 CPA) and court’s discretion – failure to produce author of anonymous tip, caution statement and key witness weakens prosecution – inconclusive forensic evidence – acquittal for want of proof beyond reasonable doubt.
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8 June 2012 |
| May 2012 |
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Ward Tribunal lacked jurisdiction since the land’s value exceeded the statutory Tshs.3,000,000 limit; proceedings nullified.
* Land law – Jurisdiction of Ward Tribunal – Pecuniary limit under section 15, Land Disputes Courts Act Cap.216 RE 2002 – Value of land determining jurisdiction.
* Civil procedure – Lack of jurisdiction renders proceedings and decision null and void; appellate proceedings founded on null proceedings also invalid.
* Evidence – Contracts of sale and defence testimony may establish monetary value of disputed land.
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31 May 2012 |
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Accused found to have caused death but mens rea for murder not proved; convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years.
* Criminal law – Identification evidence – reliability where mob violence occurred; timely naming of suspect by a local official. * Evidence – Accomplice as competent witness – section 142 Evidence Act; corroboration and admissibility. * Homicide – distinction between murder (actus reus and mens rea) and manslaughter; consequence where mens rea not proved.
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30 May 2012 |
| October 2011 |
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A duly served party who deliberately refuses to appear forfeits the right to be heard; ex parte decision upheld.
* Land law – Ward Tribunal procedure – duty to give equal opportunity to be heard under section 16(2)(a) of the Ward Tribunal Act. * Natural justice – invitation/service and actual explanation as cumulative requirements – refusal to appear after proper service constitutes forfeiture of right to be heard. * Civil procedure – validity of ex parte decisions where party was duly served but declined to participate. * Non-joinder – failure to join a third party does not justify deliberate non-appearance by a summoned party.
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13 October 2011 |
| November 2010 |
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Whether voluntary intoxication and a single bottle blow negate malice aforethought in a fatal assault.
Criminal law – murder v. manslaughter; mens rea and malice aforethought; voluntary intoxication and its evidential effect; use of bottle as dangerous weapon; causation — fatal blunt head injury (post‑mortem).
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24 November 2010 |
| June 2010 |
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Repudiated caution admissible but lack of proven malice reduced murder charge to manslaughter (five-year sentence).
Criminal law – admissibility and weight of repudiated caution/confession – voluntary statement under s27(1) Evidence Act; Criminal procedure – change of plea after prosecution closed – no equivalent of s194 CPA in High Court; Murder vs manslaughter – requirement to prove malice aforethought beyond reasonable doubt; Assessors’ opinions – persuasive but not binding on the judge.
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30 June 2010 |
| June 2004 |
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High Court holds written dowry receipt controls over contradictory oral evidence and apportions bridewealth refund accordingly.
* Evidence — Documentary primary evidence (Exhibit A) cannot be contradicted by oral testimony — Evidence Act ss.63–64. * Family law — Dissolution of marriage — Conciliatory boards have no power to dissolve marriage; only courts under Law of Marriage Act s.76. * Customary law — Refund of bridewealth — Declaration of Local Customary Law items 52 and 54; courts may apportion refund where parties share blame or where bride has remarried. * Appellate review — District Court must consider documentary evidence and applicable statutory law before ordering non-refund.
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20 June 2004 |
| September 2002 |
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5 September 2002 |
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Oral judgments delivered without recorded reasons or proper pronouncement are procedurally defective; appeal dismissed with costs.
Primary Courts — Civil Procedure — Reserved and oral judgments — Requirement to record reasons and pronounce relief in open court — Reading and confirmation of previously recorded evidence before delivery — Non‑compliance renders oral judgment defective.
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4 September 2002 |
| August 2002 |
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Long unexplained delay and lack of arguable grounds justify refusal of leave to appeal out of time.
Civil procedure – extension of time to appeal – requirement to show satisfactory explanation for delay – bereavement insufficient without explanation for prolonged inaction – court may assess merits of intended appeal and refuse leave where appeal lacks substance (Magistrates Courts Act ss.25(b), 28(3)).
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23 August 2002 |
| July 2001 |
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District Court taxation of a bill of costs in a miscellaneous application was procedurally defective and set aside.
Civil procedure — Taxation of costs — bill of costs must be filed and taxed in the original case file; miscellaneous application improper. Taxation — taxing officer cannot tax items not ordered or determined by any court (including claimed compensation for 'non-use' of land). Procedural irregularity — proceedings and taxation declared nullity; decision quashed and set aside.
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26 July 2001 |
| June 2001 |
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A late claim for recovery of customary land is defeated by the twelve‑year prescription even if the vendor had no title.
Property law – prescription/limitation – Customary Law Declaration Rules 1964 – twelve‑year prescriptive period; Effect of long absence/sickness on prescription; Possession by purchaser for prescriptive period defeats owner’s late recovery claim; District court cannot override prescription by humanitarian considerations.
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23 June 2001 |
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Appellate court upheld district court finding respondent owned disputed shamba based on credible possession and boundary evidence.
Land law – disputed shamba – proof by possession and family distribution – credibility of witnesses – relevance of third‑party boundary/cultivation evidence – appellate review of findings of fact.
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22 June 2001 |
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20 June 2001 |
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20 June 2001 |
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Appeal dismissed: claimant failed to prove maize misappropriation; district magistrate wrongly nullified primary court proceedings.
* Civil procedure – Magistrates' Courts Act s.30(2) – supervisory/revisionary powers belong to resident magistrate in charge, not any district magistrate. * Jurisdiction – Primary Court pecuniary jurisdiction where claim within statutory monetary limit. * Evidence – requirement to produce documentary exhibits and call supplier witnesses to prove indebtedness; failure to produce documentary evidence defeats claim on balance of probabilities.
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19 June 2001 |
| June 2000 |
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Primary court’s site visit valuation of shamba restoration preferred; district court’s larger award quashed, primary award restored with redemption terms.
Property law – sale of land/crop (coffee shamba) – primary court site visit informs valuation – appellate court should not vary award without sufficient grounds or site visit; redemption rights and possession pending payment; entitlement to harvest current crop before surrender.
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20 June 2000 |