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1,082 judgments found.
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December 2023
An application supported by a joint affidavit failing to distinguish oath and affirmation is incompetent and struck out.
Civil procedure — Procedure — Affidavit formalities
28 December 2023
Court dismissed language technicalities but struck out time‑barred claims and upheld counter‑claim’s cause of action.
Civil procedure
— limitation — cause of action accrual and six‑year limitation
— Overriding/oxygen principle — technical noncompliance not fatal absent prejudice
— Preliminary objections
22 December 2023
Suit for land ownership struck out for non-joinder of Commissioner for Lands and Registrar of Titles.
Civil procedure — Joinder of necessary parties — Non-joinder renders proceedings incapable of effective adjudication — Suit incompetence and striking out
Land law — joinder of necessary parties — Commissioner for Lands and Registrar of Titles as necessary parties where title/resurvey central to dispute — Joining required where title validity or revocation is in issue
20 December 2023
Failure to annex a board resolution may be cured by filing it in a reply; co-plaintiff's suit sustains proceedings, so objection overruled.
Civil procedure — Pleadings
— annexure of resolution in reply (Order VIII r.13 CPC) constitutes part of pleadings
— preliminary objection and partial incompetence when co-plaintiff is natural person
20 December 2023
Court set aside unproven damages, found welding the respondent's premises unjustified and ordered it unlocked.
Land law
— damages — specific damages
— lease and renovation agreement — proof of agreed rent — burden
— Self-help evictions — welding/locking premises unlawful
20 December 2023
Plaintiffs' rent claim dismissed: lease inadequately proved and evidence insufficient despite defendant's non‑appearance.
Civil procedure
— Burden of proof
— Remedies — Claim dismissed where plaintiffs fail to prove lease, arrears or anticipated loss
Land law — Land — Lease agreements
— conflicting descriptions raise reasonable doubt
— Proof of existence and terms
20 December 2023
Extension granted where substituted publication service was unproven and applicant promptly acted after learning of ex-parte judgment.
Extension of time; application to set aside ex-parte judgment; substituted service by publication; proof of service required; registered-mail notice; accounting for delay; grant of limited extension; no costs.
19 December 2023
Extension to lodge notice of appeal granted; application for leave struck out after statute removed leave requirement.
Appellate practice — Appellate procedure
Civil procedure — Extension of time to lodge Notice of Appeal — technical delay and cumulative accounting for delay
19 December 2023
The applicant is entitled to refund of payments where the respondent bank accepted funds yet proceeded to auction the mortgaged property.
Land law; mortgage/security; third‑party payments; implied agreement between bank and third party; auction of mortgaged property; bona fide purchaser; restitution of payments; interest on awarded sum.
19 December 2023
Application for extension to obtain leave to appeal struck out as amendment removed the requirement for leave in civil appeals.
Appellate practice — Appellate procedure
— reliance on Court of Appeal authorities applying the amendment
— The Legal Sector Laws
19 December 2023
An appeal against an interlocutory refusal to recuse is incompetent and was struck out with costs.
Appellate practice — Appellate jurisdiction act s.5(2)(d) — appeals from interlocutory or preliminary decisions
Appellate practice — Land Disputes Courts Regulations (G.N.174/2003) r.22
— competence of appeal
— costs for dilatory conduct (Social Action Fund precedent)
— prohibition on appeals from interlocutory rulings
— withdrawal of appeal after preliminary objection
19 December 2023
Technical delay from prosecuting a related appeal can justify an extension of time to file a notice of appeal.
Civil procedure — extension of time — technical delay while prosecuting related appeal — affidavits and interlocutory follow‑up as justification
19 December 2023
Amendment removing leave requirement makes an extension application to seek leave to appeal overtaken by events and thus struck out.
Appellate practice — Appellate procedure — requirement of leave to appeal in civil proceedings — Legal Sector Laws
— application for extension of time to seek leave overtaken by events
— leave no longer required in ordinary civil appeals
19 December 2023
19 December 2023
Whether non‑joinder of the Registrar of Titles can be raised orally instead of being pleaded under Order VIII rule 2.
Civil procedure
— Notice before joinder of government officers
— Pleading requirements
— Preliminary objections — Non‑joinder of Registrar of Titles — Pleading/joinder requirements
19 December 2023
A company’s suit filed without a board resolution or express board authorization is incompetent and may be struck out.
Civil procedure
— Precedent — Simba Papers (Court of Appeal) and High Court authorities applied
— preliminary objection — incompetence of suit instituted without corporate mandate — striking out
19 December 2023
Failure to plead and attach letters of administration renders representative applicants' proceedings incompetent and subject to being struck out.
Representative capacity — requirement to plead and attach letters of administration or probate — locus standi — failure to plead/attach is fatal and renders proceedings incompetent — preliminary objection on capacity.
19 December 2023
Short extension granted to file revision where alleged illegality and res judicata raise substantive issues.
Civil procedure
— extension of time — whether alleged illegality (non‑joinder, res judicata) justifies extension
— substantive factual issues deferred to revision proceedings.* Land law — prior litigation and alleged res judicata versus subsequent trespass claim — factual provenance of title and timing of alleged trespass relevant to cause of action
19 December 2023
Appeal allowed: respondent failed to prove inheritance title; trial Tribunal improperly relied on untendered documents and assessors' extraneous facts.
Civil procedure — Trial procedure — Assessors
— Misdirection on standard of proof and failure to explain assessors' duties and vital points
— reliance on such opinions vitiates judgment
Evidence — admissibility of documentary evidence — Admissibility of documents not pleaded — annexures attached to pleadings are not evidence unless produced and admitted
Land law — proof of ownership — burden of proof on party alleging ownership — balance of probabilities
19 December 2023
Applicant failed to prove unlawful eviction or loss of equipment; appeal dismissed with costs.
Land law — tenancy and eviction — Proof of unlawful eviction and entitlement to compensation — Burden of proof on balance of probabilities (Evidence Act ss 110, 112)
19 December 2023
Borrower must repay loan recalculated at agreed 21% interest; unlawful immediate deductions disallowed and default notice held valid.
Banking law — loan restructuring and moratorium — unlawful deductions during agreed grace period
Contract law — agreed interest rate binding (21% v. charged 22%) — repayment to be recalculated
Mortgage law
— Equitable relief — clean hands doctrine and dismissal of injunctions and declaratory reliefs
— statutory default notice and power to sell — valid where mortgagor defaults
18 December 2023
Applicants failed to prove interest in the adjudicated land; revision application dismissed for lack of entitlement to be heard.
Land law — Land — Revision jurisdiction — requirement of an error material to merits
18 December 2023
Applicants failed to show good cause to set aside dismissal of counterclaim; clerical errors were curable under the oxygen principle.
Civil procedure
— Pleadings and technicalities — Wrong case number and incorrect statutory citation curable — Section 3A Civil Procedure Code (oxygen principle)
— Restoration of proceedings/dismissal for want of prosecution — Good cause to set aside under Order IX Rule 3 CPC — Failure to demonstrate good cause
18 December 2023
Leave to appeal granted where applicant demonstrated prima facie arguable grounds; non‑joinder objection held premature.
Civil procedure — Non-joinder — competency of application — Objection premature and for appellate determination
Civil procedure — prima facie/arguable appeal or public importance required
— Court of Appeal
— Whether the applicant has demonstrated prima facie/arguable grounds warranting leave to appeal
18 December 2023
Consent decree quashed where party with matrimonial interest was not joined and denied the right to be heard.
Land law — Joinder and right to be heard — Consent decree — Matrimonial property
— possible collusion noted but not decided
— Proceedings quashed where party with interest was not joined
15 December 2023
Leave to appeal refused for lack of arguable legal issues and absence of material evidence on jurisdiction.
Appellate practice
— leave to appeal — arguable points of law deserving Court of Appeal consideration
— new facts or grounds raised for first time on appeal — Court will not entertain new factual issues not raised before the first appellate court
Land law — pecuniary jurisdiction of Ward Tribunal — Whether illegality is apparent on the face of the record
15 December 2023
Plaintiff's inconsistent documents failed to prove title; defendant proved superior chain of title and succeeded on counterclaim.
Civil procedure — Setting aside ex parte judgment — Consequences for subsequent title disputes
Evidence — Documentary evidence and bankers' books — Completeness, credibility and effect of inconsistent or unsigned documents on proof of title
Land law — ownership dispute — burden of proof on claimant to prove title
15 December 2023
An appeal is incompetent and liable to be struck out where the parties named on appeal differ from those at trial; omission is fatal.
Appellate practice — Parties — Whether parties in the memorandum of appeal must correspond with parties at trial — Omission of trial parties is fatal
Civil procedure — Appeal competence — Non‑joinder of necessary respondents who were parties at trial — Failure to include all original parties renders appeal incompetent
15 December 2023
Technical delay from prosecuting an incompetent appeal can justify an extension of time to re-file an appeal.
Civil procedure
— Appeal competence — Service of notice of appeal — Failure renders appeal incompetent
— Extension of time to appeal — technical delay where original appeal was lodged in time but struck out for procedural defect
— Promptness — prompt action after striking out and refusal of prior enlargement supports grant of extension
15 December 2023
Applicant failed to prove illness or substantiate advocate’s conduct, so extension of time to restore dismissed suit was denied.
Land law — Land practice — extension of time — good cause required — allegations about third parties require their affidavits (no hearsay)
15 December 2023
Failure to account for a three-year delay defeats an application for extension of time to seek revision.
Civil procedure — extension of time
— Lyamuya guidelines
— duty to account for each day of delay
— non-joinder
— non-joinder not automatically sufficient
14 December 2023
Applicant failed to show sufficient cause for extension of time; application dismissed without costs.
Civil procedure — extension of time — minority not proved and minors may sue by next friend
14 December 2023
Appellate court dismisses challenge to tribunal’s ownership finding, upholding evidence assessment and procedural rulings.
Land law
— admissibility — unstamped instrument raised late on appeal
— Assessors — written opinions read and chairperson may depart with reasons
— Evidence — burden of proof and adverse inference for failure to call material witnesses
— ownership dispute — evaluation of competing sale agreements
— procedure — locus in quo inspection discretionary
14 December 2023
14 December 2023
Objection that suit was time‑barred and wrongly instituted through an attorney overruled; continuing wrong and representation require evidence.
Civil procedure
— Representation — validity of power of attorney in court proceedings — Authority requires evidence, not determination on preliminary objection
— amendment of pleadings — joinder of parties — Order I Rule 10(2)
Limitation law — Limitation of actions — Continuing breach renews limitation period — Law of Limitation Act s 7
14 December 2023
Appellant found lawful owner; tribunal erred in finding transfer to sister; sale to third party invalid; no costs.
Land law
— costs — refused to avoid escalating intra-family dispute
— Evidence — evaluation of documentary inconsistencies (dates, descriptions) and oral testimony
— ownership dispute — competing sale agreements and local government acknowledgements
— Sale to third party — void where vendor lacks title
— Transfer of title — signature as witness does not prove transfer
14 December 2023
Leave to appeal refused where applicants failed to show legal points worthy of Court of Appeal consideration.
Civil procedure — Leave to appeal — discretionary grant
Civil procedure — restoration of dismissed suits
— final pre-trial conference and dismissal for non-attendance
— procedural proof (medical chits, resignation letters)
— sufficient cause for non-appearance
13 December 2023
Applicant granted leave to appeal on prima facie arguable issues about ownership evidence and admissibility of an unregistered sale agreement.
Civil procedure — Leave to appeal — discretionary grant — Criteria: legal point worthy of Court of Appeal consideration, novelty/public importance, prima facie arguable grounds, serious misdirection
Evidence
— admissibility — Requirement of registration and stamp duty for sale agreements of un‑surveyed plots
— Ownership proof — Whether a residential license alone can prove ownership
13 December 2023
Applicants failed to show sufficient cause to set aside dismissal for non-appearance where advocates had conflicting Court of Appeal engagements.
Land law — Land procedure
— advocates’ conflicting engagements
— balance between expeditiousness and justice
— notification/adjournment obligations
— party's duty to follow up case
— Restoration of suit dismissed for non-appearance
13 December 2023
Plaintiff's compensation claim for land acquisition dismissed as time‑barred; negotiations did not suspend the limitation period.
Limitation law — Compensation for acquisition of land — Cause of action accrues on receipt of compensation — One‑year limitation
13 December 2023
Plaintiff found owner but court recognised a 553 sqm right‑of‑way, ordering compensation assessed and paid by the dominant land owner.
Land law — Compensation
— Requirement that compensation be paid by dominant/benefitting land owner
— servient owner entitled to just compensation assessed by Ministry valuer
Land law — Easement/right‑of‑way — recognition of access (servitude) over owner’s land used by neighbours
Land law — ownership
13 December 2023
Plaintiff's sale agreement established ownership; defendant's alleged gift letter failed to establish competing title.
Land law — Gift deeds — formal requirements (donor capacity, present intention, delivery, acceptance) — informal letter insufficient
Land law — Non-joinder
— discretionary and not fatal where reliefs executable
— Injunction and costs awarded to successful purchaser
Land law — proof of title
13 December 2023
Court set aside ex parte land judgment after finding applicants showed good cause and arguable defence; matter to be heard inter partes.
Civil procedure
— Costs — each party to bear own costs
— interlocutory rulings — Binding nature of prior extension order and its bearing on subsequent applications
— Order IX r.13(1)
— Setting aside ex parte judgment — Sufficient cause for non-appearance under O
12 December 2023
Court set aside dismissal and restored the applicant's counterclaim due to counsel's sudden illness and diligent follow‑up.
Civil procedure
— Good cause — sickness of counsel — Health as acceptable ground for restoration
— Restoration of dismissed suit — Whether illness of advocate constitutes sufficient cause to set aside dismissal — Order IX r 6 CPC
12 December 2023
Withdrawal of a suit without leave bars refiling; any party to the fresh suit may object.
Civil procedure — Cpc) — withdrawal without leave bars refiling
Civil procedure — locus to object
— any party to the fresh suit may raise preliminary objection
— applicability of CPC to Land Tribunal via
— GN 174 reg.17(1) silent on effect of withdrawal
— subject matter test
Civil procedure — Order XXIII r1(3)
12 December 2023
Leave to appeal granted where affidavit disclosed arguable points of law, including pecuniary jurisdiction and late rejoinder issues.
Land law Leave to appeal Test for grant of leave: arguable point of law, public importance or serious misdirection Pecuniary jurisdiction dispute Procedural compliance (late rejoinder).
12 December 2023
Applicant failed to show good cause for extension of time; application dismissed with costs.
Civil procedure
— extension of time to file application to set aside dismissal — Whether good cause shown to warrant extension — Requirement to account for each day of delay
— legal representation — Difficulty in finding or communicating with advocate — Phone contact does not establish inability to take steps
Evidence — Affidavits versus submissions — Submissions are not evidence — Medical reports must be placed in affidavit to be relied upon
12 December 2023
Dismissal for want of prosecution upheld where applicant refused to proceed and sought an impermissible rejoinder.
Land law — Land procedure — Regulation 8
— no further pleadings once written statement of defence filed and hearing fixed
— recusal and procedural conduct of parties
12 December 2023
Bank may enforce security on default but cannot sell mortgaged or non-mortgaged property without statutory notice or court authority.
Contract law — Contract/loan facilities — default and consequences — admission of indebtedness and entitlement to enforce security
Land law
— Mortgage and power of sale — requirement of sixty-days notice under section 127 before sale of mortgaged property
— Property law — wrongful retention and duty to release title deed
12 December 2023
Applicants residing on disputed land must be joined as defendants where eviction orders would affect their interests.
Civil procedure
— Court discretion to add necessary parties land law — eviction/vacant possession/demolition orders affecting third‑party occupants and compensation claims Avoidance of multiplicity of suits and ensuring executable decrees
— inability to pass effective decree without them Dominus litis — plaintiff’s choice of parties is not absolute
— Joinder of parties as necessary or proper parties Joinder criteria — right to relief against non‑party
12 December 2023