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30 judgments found.
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May 2020
Appellant in factual possession entitled to recovery; res judicata not proved; substantial trespass damages awarded.
Civil procedure — res judicata: burden to plead and prove prior judgment; inadmissibility of parol evidence to prove decree; possession and title — possession raises presumption of ownership absent proof of better title; appellate review — re‑hearing evidence and interfering where trial court misdirected; trespass — actionable per se and measure of damages for wilful trespass.
22 May 2020
Respondent’s actual occupation (burials) created an overriding interest binding the registered title; appeal dismissed.
Civil procedure — locus in quo evidence — Order 16 r.7 and s.100 Magistrates Courts Act; Land law — indefeasibility of title — impeachment for fraud requires particulars (Order 6 r.3) and high civil standard of proof; Overriding interests — s.64(2) Registration of Titles Act — actual occupation/adverse possession (burials) can bind registered proprietor.
22 May 2020
A bailee who accepts custody of a chattel is prima facie liable for its loss unless he rebuts negligence and validly notifies any exclusion.
Contract law — Bailment: creation by possession and custody; possession v. ownership; presumption of bailee negligence where chattel is stolen; burden to rebut presumption; exclusion clauses require reasonable notice; vicarious liability for servants' acts; measure of damages for loss and loss of use.
22 May 2020
A bailee is prima facie liable for loss of a bailed chattel unless he rebuts the presumption of negligence.
Bailment — existence of bailment by conduct and receipts; Possession v ownership — bailor’s locus standi despite lack of registered title; Bailee’s prima facie liability where chattel stolen while in custody; Burden on bailee to rebut presumption of negligence; Exclusion clauses — must be reasonably brought to bailor’s attention to be effective; Measure of damages — market value immediately prior to loss (with depreciation) and general damages for loss of use.
22 May 2020
Claim to land was time-barred; adverse possession extinguished the respondent's title and appeal was allowed.
Limitation Act (ss.5,16) — recovery of land — twelve-year bar — time runs from date of adverse possession. Adverse possession — extinctive prescription — uninterrupted possession vests title in adverse possessor. Extension for disability (s.21) — claimant must plead disability (Order 7 r.6 CPR); failure to plead defeats extension
Appeal — appellate re-appraisal where trial court misdirects on limitation and title
22 May 2020
Suit filed in the name of a deceased plaintiff is a nullity; respondent held bona fide occupant, appeal dismissed.
Civil procedure — Suit filed by deceased is a nullity; Limitation Act s.5 and s.16 — accrual and running of time for recovery of land; Locus in quo inspections — procedural requirements (Order 18 r.14) and effect of irregularities; Section 70 Civil Procedure Act — irregularities do not vitiate judgment absent miscarriage of justice; Evidence — material contradictions may justify rejection of testimony; Possession and bona fide occupancy in land disputes.
22 May 2020
Family communal customary tenure gives members usufructuary rights; alienation requires collective customary consent; sale valid absent proved fraud.
Land law — Communal family customary tenure; family communal ownership v. individual usufruct; requirements for alienation of family communal land; validity of customary sale evidenced by witnesses; proof of fraud in land transactions; locus standi of family member without letters of administration; appellate reappraisal of trial evaluation.
22 May 2020
Admissions at scheduling conferences about un-surveyed land are not conclusive; locus in quo and monuments govern boundaries.
Land law — disputed boundaries and acreage of unsurveyed land — admissions at scheduling conferences not conclusive; locus in quo and monuments prevail over lay acreage estimates; occupation and burial as evidence of beneficial interest; costs — discretionary award and family disputes may warrant each party bearing own costs.
22 May 2020
Appellate court recharacterised pleadings, found acquisition by gift and dismissed respondent's encroachment claim.
Civil procedure Grounds of appeal Order 43 r 1(2) — grounds must be concise, non-argumentative and non-narrative; Pleadings construed liberally to give effect to substance over form. Land law Boundaries and possession Locus in quo evidence, trees and long occupation as markers of boundary; dispute as extent of holdings not title. Appellate duty Re-hearing evidence and interfering where trial court misdirected
22 May 2020
Appellants failed to prove gift or dependency; customary clan subdivision vested the disputed land in the respondent; appeal dismissed.
Civil procedure; Land & succession — gift inter vivos requires divestiture and delivery of possession; succession under Section 28(1) — lineal descent and dependency rules; customary partition and clan determinations admissible and enforceable where not repugnant to statute; appellate re-evaluation of factual findings and locus in quo evidence.
22 May 2020
Applicant granted conditional stay of execution; taxation certificate not set aside; security for costs required.
Civil procedure — stay of execution pending appeal — Order 43 rules; security for costs vs full decretal security; taxation of costs — service on advocate and effect; civil imprisonment in execution not a final remedy; twelve‑year enforcement period.
22 May 2020
Joinder of a witness as a plaintiff was improper and defective locus in quo proceedings justified a retrial.
Civil procedure — Order 1 r.10(2) joinder — Necessary party vs. witness; Locus in quo — proper procedure, swearing, cross‑examination and sketch map; Appellate powers — re‑hearing of facts and ordering retrial under s.80 Civil Procedure Act where trial materially defective; Land disputes — proof of title, conflicting evidence and boundaries.
22 May 2020
A widow has standing to sue for her intestate husband's land; monuments govern land extent and vacant possession was ordered.
Succession — Widow’s standing — Section 27 Succession Act — beneficiary’s right to sue for recovery, preservation and protection of estate. Land law — Trespass — Right to immediate exclusive possession/constructive possession sufficient to maintain trespass action; ownership not prerequisite
Boundaries — Monuments and sketch map prevail over admeasurements/acreage in defining land extent. Civil procedure — Missing locus-in-quo notes not fatal where remaining record suffices
Remedies — Injunction, damages and vacant possession appropriate where trespass and entitlement established
22 May 2020
Failure to call an available material witness justified an adverse inference and supported upholding the trial court’s ownership finding.
Civil procedure — provisional/tentative memorandum of appeal not a proper document to commence appeal; Evidence — locus in quo observations and admission of evidence of non-testifying persons; Evidence Act s.166 and Civil Procedure Act s.70 — improper admission/rejection not automatically fatal unless miscarriage of justice; Adverse inference where party fails to call material, available witness under their control; Appellate duty to re-hear and re-appraise evidence on credibility and probabilities.
22 May 2020
Unsigned sale agreement may be enforceable by conduct, and adverse possession vests title after statutory uninterrupted possession.
Contract law — formation by conduct; enforceability of unsigned written agreements where payment and delivery of possession occurred; Land law — adverse possession (extinctive prescription) — required elements: actual, open and notorious, exclusive, continuous possession for over twelve years and claim/colour of title; Survey/mark-stones as corroborative evidence of possession; Appellate review — re-evaluation of factual findings.
22 May 2020
Appellate court affirms boundary decision: visible monuments prevail, missing locus record not fatal, no proven judicial bias; appeal dismissed.
Land law — locus in quo procedure and evidentiary requirements; Boundary disputes — monuments prevail over admeasurements; Civil procedure — missing locus in quo record and partial records; Judicial bias — reasonable apprehension test requires clear evidence; Appeal time limits and appellate re-evaluation of facts.
22 May 2020
Court set aside a manifestly excessive taxation award and remitted the bill for taxation de novo.
Civil procedure — Taxation of costs; ex parte taxation where service proved; discretionary nature of taxation; error in principle and manifestly excessive awards; certificate of complexity required before enhanced instruction fees; taxation de novo where original taxation was flawed.
22 May 2020
Appellants proved ownership by exclusive occupation; respondents held trespassers and ordered to vacate and pay damages.
Land law — gift inter vivos and proof by exclusive occupation; licence v. exclusive possession; actual occupation requires permanence and physical indicia; trespass actionable per se — damages principles and assessment.
22 May 2020
Part performance and parties' conduct can render a partly written land sale enforceable; prior dismissal not res judicata.
Civil procedure — res judicata — dismissal for want of prosecution not decision on merits; Contract law — land sale — interpretation of ambiguous/partly written agreement; Parol evidence and surrounding circumstances admissible to resolve ambiguity; Equity — part performance (payment, possession, improvements) enforces otherwise unenforceable land contract; Remedy — specific performance for land sale; Judicial conduct — critical remarks do not necessarily establish disqualifying bias.
22 May 2020
Appellate court orders partial retrial to determine customary boundary after trial court misapprehended key factual issues.
Civil procedure — Appeals — section 80(2) Civil Procedure Act — appellate powers and duties; Retrial — partial retrial ordered where trial court misapprehended facts; Land law — customary inheritance — boundary disputes; Locus in quo — evidentiary value and sketch map; Bona fide purchase — issue to be determined on retrial.
22 May 2020
Appeal allowed and retrial ordered due to missing locus-in-quo record and failure to apply urban planning law.
Civil procedure — retrial — section 80(1)(e) Civil Procedure Act — appellate power to order retrial where record incomplete; Physical Planning Act — subdivision, consolidation and compliance with approved local physical development plan; urban plot disputes — necessity of detailed locus-in-quo sketch maps and consideration of minimum plot sizes and planning standards; judgment per incuriam where statute or material legal standard ignored.
22 May 2020
Whether an alleged gift of customary land was perfected and whether the mast site belonged to the donor's beneficiary.
Land law — gift inter vivos of customary land — requirement of donor intent, acceptance and delivery/severance; imperfect gift cannot be perfected by equity where boundaries/monumentation absent. Customary tenure — limits on non‑traditional institutions acquiring customary land without conversion/registration. Possession and boundary disputes — locus in quo observations, natural monuments and adverse possession; recovery of rents where beneficiary proved entitlement
22 May 2020
Administrator may trace and recover estate land wrongfully disposed; sale void if purchaser had notice or failed reasonable inquiry.
Succession law — letters of administration vest legal title in administrator; beneficiaries retain equitable proprietary interests
Equity — tracing and following estate property; remedies include restitution, resulting/constructive trust, charge. Property law — nemo dat quod non habet; bona fide purchaser for value without notice defeats tracing. Equitable defences — estoppel by conduct inapplicable where administrator not privy to transaction; knowing/unconscionable receipt defeats purchaser’s claim
22 May 2020
Suit to recover land dismissed as time‑barred; adverse possession and unpleaded disability under Limitation Act proved fatal.
Civil Procedure — Limitation — Sections 5 and 16 Limitation Act — twelve-year bar to actions to recover land; time runs from adverse possession. Prescription/Adverse possession — uninterrupted, hostile possession for prescribed period may extinguish original owner’s title
Limitation — Section 21 — extension for disability must be pleaded per Order 7 rule 6; statutory caps apply. Locus in quo — purpose is to test oral evidence; court must not fill gaps in witnesses’ testimony
Appeals — appellate duty to re‑hear evidence; grounds of appeal must be specific, not general fishing expeditions
22 May 2020
Appellate court held that long possession and neighbours’ firsthand evidence established customary ownership; trial errors were not fatal.
Civil procedure — locus in quo inspections — need for contemporaneous record of sworn testimony, cross-examination and features observed; irregularities do not vitiate judgment absent miscarriage of justice
Evidence — possession and ownership — section 110 Evidence Act: possession raises presumption of ownership; burden to prove better title on challenger
Appeals — first appellate court duty to rehear and re-appraise evidence; may overturn trial findings where balance of probabilities favors other version. Land law — customary tenure — long user, burial and neighbours’ firsthand testimony as proof of possession and title
22 May 2020
Appellate court upheld respondent’s customary possessory title but ordered partial retrial limited to valuation and damages.
Land law — boundaries — road not a boundary marker absent clear agreement; evidence of occupation and user controls boundary issues. Family law — succession — Succession Act s.191 (letters of administration) and customary intestacy applicability
Evidence — Evidence Act s.56(2)&(3) — judicial notice of notorious customary practices
Possession — factual possession plus intention to possess. Civil procedure — relief confined to pleadings; exceptional allowance where parties tried the issue
Appeals — scope for partial retrial where only discrete issues (valuation and damages) remain
22 May 2020
Involuntary abandonment from insurgency does not extinguish customary title; adverse possession not proved; substantial trespass damages awarded.
Land law — customary ownership and Acholi intestacy; adverse possession and limitation; involuntary abandonment (insurgency) and disability; locus in quo procedure; trespass actionable per se — substantial damages.
22 May 2020
Constitutional law—human rights—illegal detention—torture and rights violations—misuse of Public Order Management Act—breach of constitutional duties—declarations and damages granted—costs awarded
15 May 2020
High Court exercised revision under s83, nullified LCIII judgment for lack of jurisdiction and ordered each party to bear their own costs.
Civil procedure — Revision jurisdiction — Section 83 Civil Procedure Act — High Court’s unfettered supervisory powers
Costs — Discretion under section 27 — factors justifying departure from costs following the event. Appeal procedure — incompetence for want of memorandum of appeal — strike out versus dismissal
Jurisdiction — illegality of lower court proceedings cannot be sanctioned and must be nullified
12 May 2020
Commissioner lacked jurisdiction and breached natural justice in cancelling the applicant's title; cancellation set aside and title reinstated.
Land law — title cancellation — limits of Commissioner for Land Registration’s jurisdiction — allegations of fraud require full inquiry — companies cannot hold customary tenure — procedural fairness and Section 91 Land Act compliance required.
8 May 2020