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Citation
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Judgment date
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| February 2019 |
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Applicant failed to prove statutory requirements for a section 167 vesting order; Registrar must be summoned under section 182.
* Registration of Titles Act – section 167 – vesting order – requirements: registered proprietorship, payment, possession and vendor’s acquiescence, vendor dead or absent.* Registrar of Titles – section 182 – must be summoned/given hearing before compelling statutory duty to register is ordered.* Civil procedure – exercise of judicial discretion under section 33 Judicature Act and section 98 CPA must be judicious and not override statutory prerequisites or natural justice.* Evidence – necessity of certificate of title, probate/death evidence, and registry records to support registration applications.
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28 February 2019 |
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Court found premature curtailment of committee chairs unlawful but refused prerogative relief as impractical.
Administrative law – Judicial review – Ripeness and reviewable decision; minutes versus overt official acts as evidence – Ultra vires/illegality in premature dissolution of local government standing committees – Procedural impropriety: mandatory versus directory rules – Wednesbury/unreasonableness – Discretion in granting remedies and refusal of prerogative orders and damages.
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28 February 2019 |
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An unreasoned taxation ruling is a nullity; the bills of costs must be retaxed with reasons.
Taxation of costs – Duty of Taxing Officer to record reasons – Unreasoned taxation ruling is a nullity – Appellate interference where error in principle or manifest excess – Ex parte taxation considerations.
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28 February 2019 |
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Whether the respondents held the land by gift inter vivos or only by temporary grazing licence, determining trespass.
* Land law – customary ownership – whether occupation arose from a gift inter vivos or a mere grazing licence – effect on trespass claim. * Possessory rights – physical corroboration at locus in quo (graves, homestead remains, tree planting) as evidence of long-term occupation. * Appellate review – duties of first appellate court in re-evaluating credibility and weighing oral and physical evidence.
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28 February 2019 |
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Letters to public authorities were defamatory; qualified privilege and immunity forfeited by actual malice, so damages and injunction awarded.
Defamation (libel) — letters to public authorities — publication to addressees vs. press — qualified privilege and statutory qualified immunity for local government officers — privilege defeated by actual/express malice — damages, interest, permanent injunction and costs.
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28 February 2019 |
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Purchase without proved vendor title and consent-based occupation defeat adverse possession; appeal dismissed with costs.
Customary land – unregistered title – root of title and chain of ownership; bona fide purchaser and constructive notice; adverse possession and prescription; proprietary estoppel; irregular locus in quo evidence; limitation.
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28 February 2019 |
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First appellate court found customary ownership established, declared estate ownership, ordered vacant possession and injunction.
Land law – customary tenure – ownership and inheritance under civil customary law; jurisdiction of Magistrate Grade One – unlimited jurisdiction where dispute governed exclusively by customary law; locus standi – beneficiary may sue for estate property without letters of administration; evaluation of evidence – physical evidence at locus in quo may corroborate oral testimony; trespass – unauthorised re-occupation held to be trespass.
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28 February 2019 |
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Applicants’ prior possession and bona fide purchase entitled them to release of the truck from attachment.
Civil Procedure – Execution – Attachment and sale of chattel – Objector proceedings under Order 22 – Focus on possession not title; elements required: interest and possession at time of attachment; bona fide purchase and arm’s-length transaction; suspicious transfers and factors indicating fraud; title disputes reserved for separate suit.
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28 February 2019 |
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Application to quash DPP’s consent to prosecute dismissed for failure to establish illegality, irrationality or procedural impropriety.
Judicial review – Prosecutorial discretion of DPP – Reviewable on grounds of illegality, irrationality (Wednesbury) and procedural impropriety; Civil courts cautious to restrain or quash criminal prosecutions; Applicant failed to prove lack of evidence or irrationality to justify certiorari/prohibition.
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27 February 2019 |
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Statutory noise-regulation remedies lie in the Magistrate's Court; High Court original jurisdiction is ousted for those claims.
Noise pollution — National Environment (Noise and Vibrations Standards and Control) Regulations 2013 — Regulation 43(7) — Magistrate's Court as court of first instance — statutory remedial scheme ousts common law nuisance in High Court. Constitutional right to clean environment — statutory remedy precedence. Tobacco Control Act — statutory enforcement. Rylands v Fletcher — preserved common-law cause may be tried in High Court if pleaded.
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26 February 2019 |
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Court pierced the corporate veil to hold individual co-signatories liable for unauthorized withdrawals, reserving bank liability for later.
• Company law – lifting the corporate veil – personal liability of shareholders for misappropriation of company funds
• Banking law – bank’s liability for honoring cheques paid out despite a co-signatory’s objection
• Evidence – account records and company resolution establishing joint signatories and unauthorized withdrawals
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25 February 2019 |
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High Court found university in contempt for delaying Tribunal‑ordered consideration and ordered Appointments Board to decide promotion within 30 days.
Administrative law – Judicial review – Enforcement of decisions of statutory Staff Appeals Tribunal – Contempt for failure to implement Tribunal orders – Mandamus to compel Appointments Board to consider promotion within fixed time frame – Duty to act within reasonable timelines and without vindictiveness.
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25 February 2019 |
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Defendant breached publishing contract and infringed copyright; plaintiff awarded unpaid royalties, damages, interest and costs.
Contract law – admissibility of unstamped agreement; stamp duty does not necessarily bar enforcement. Contract variation – written contracts cannot be orally varied. Breach of contract – failure to remit royalties for supplied copies. Copyright – unauthorized reprints and distribution constitute infringement. Remedies – special and general damages, interest and costs.
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25 February 2019 |
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Minister exceeded powers by imposing trade licence fees on banks, while off‑site ATMs may lawfully be licensed.
Delegated legislation – statutory instrument – judicial review of ministerial instrument; Administrative law – ultra vires – limits of ministerial powers; Statutory interpretation – Financial Institutions Act v Trade (Licensing) Act – generalia specialibus rule; Licensing – banks exempt as specific regime; ATMs off-site licensable under Trade (Licensing) Act.
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25 February 2019 |
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Interdiction pending investigation within same district is lawful; pre-interdiction hearing not required, application premature.
* Administrative law – Judicial review – Interdiction/suspension – Preventive interdiction justified where reasonable apprehension of interference or repetition of misconduct exists; discretion of employer. * Procedural fairness – No absolute right to a pre-interdiction hearing; hearing required during investigation/disciplinary process. * Civil procedure – Formal defects in affidavits (undated) are curable and not fatal absent prejudice. * Prematurity – Judicial review of interdiction while investigations ongoing is premature.
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25 February 2019 |
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Judicial review dismissed as premature for failure to exhaust the university's internal academic appeal procedures.
Administrative law — Judicial review — Requirement to exhaust internal remedies; University disciplinary and academic appeals — Senate jurisdiction; Prematurity — court declines to entertain appeal before internal remedies exhausted; Student grievance procedures under institutional rules.
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25 February 2019 |
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25 February 2019 |
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21 February 2019 |
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21 February 2019 |
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20 February 2019 |
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Plaintiff’s commission claim failed: no contract with 1st defendant and alleged oral agreement with 2nd defendant unproven.
Contract law – privity of contract; agency and commission claims – claimant must be party to contract to derive rights; oral agreements – burden of proof and requirement to prove essential terms and corroboration; pleadings – case cannot be amended by evidence that departs from pleadings.
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20 February 2019 |
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Plaintiff’s claim for commission dismissed: no contractual privity and failure to prove alleged oral agreement.
Contract law – agency and commission – privity of contract bars strangers from enforcing contractual benefits; Oral contracts – burden of proof and evidential difficulty; Evidence – departures from pleadings undermine credibility; Validity of written commission agreements – absence of proof of illegality.
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20 February 2019 |
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15 February 2019 |
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High Court cannot add a non‑signatory to arbitration absent contractual or statutory authority; application dismissed.
Arbitration — Jurisdiction of courts under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act (s.9) — Joinder of third parties — Arbitration as a contractual forum and privity — High Court limited to statutory exceptions — Arbitrator to determine joinder where agreement permits.
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15 February 2019 |
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Civil Procedure
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13 February 2019 |
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Administrative Law|Civil Procedure
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12 February 2019 |
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Civil Procedure
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12 February 2019 |
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Court ordered the Registrar to facilitate a competent, lawful collecting society rather than immediately cancelling the existing licence.
* Intellectual property – collective management – regulation of collecting societies under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act.
* Administrative law – judicial review – discretionary remedies and preferring administrative solutions over quashing orders.
* Corporate governance – membership, audits, tariffs, security devices and separation between federations and collecting societies.
* Remedies – mandamus directing Registrar to facilitate establishment/rehabilitation of a competent collecting society (Collecting Societies Guidelines 2018).
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8 February 2019 |
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"Apartments" construed as a single business for licensing; per-unit municipal fee assessment held ultra vires and quashed.
Administrative law — Judicial review; grounds: illegality and irrationality — statutory interpretation of "apartments" in licensing schedule; Local government revenue — licence fees; Remedies — certiorari and prohibition; Procedural law — no leave required under Judicature (Judicial Review) Rules 2009.
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8 February 2019 |
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Retired officer entitled to professional allowance, consolidated-pay terminal benefits, housing allowance, leave arrears and general damages.
* Employment law/ military conditions of service – entitlement to professional allowance where qualification attained during service; employer’s duty to utilize and recognize qualifications.
* Pensions law – terminal benefits (pension and gratuity) to be computed on consolidated pay where professional allowance forms part of emoluments.
* UPDF Act/Regulations – housing entitlement and payment in lieu where no quarters provided; leave arrears admitted and payable.
* Damages – award of general damages for wrongful computation/non-payment; aggravated damages not warranted absent aggravating conduct.
* Interest and costs – statutory/contractual interest awarded on monetary claims and costs to successful applicant.
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8 February 2019 |
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Civil courts should not bar military prosecutions; General Court Martial jurisdiction over the applicant under UPDF Act upheld.
* Military law – Jurisdiction – Civilian triable by Court Martial under UPDF Act s119(1)(g) where alleged to aid/abet military personnel. * Constitutional and civil procedure – Civil court restraint – prohibition on using civil proceedings to stay or bar ongoing criminal/military prosecutions. * Remedies – Alleged defects in military trial to be challenged in trial court and by appeal (Court Martial Appeal Court and higher appellate courts). * Habeas corpus – detention in military facility and jurisdictional challenges determined within criminal process.
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8 February 2019 |
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Failure to give proper notice and hearing to a land title holder renders the amendment order void and subject to certiorari.
Administrative law — Judicial review — Procedural fairness and natural justice — Service of notice and opportunity to be heard — Amendment of land register — Certiorari to quash ultra vires administrative act — Damages exceptional in judicial review.
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8 February 2019 |
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Article 50 enforcement allowed, but mobile‑money tax challenge dismissed as overtaken by events; each party to bear own costs.
Constitutional law – enforcement of fundamental rights (Art.50) – right to property (Art.26) – taxation of mobile‑money deposits – jurisdiction of High Court – mootness/overtaken‑by‑events – joinder of Attorney General – refunds of erroneously collected tax.
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8 February 2019 |
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Court allowed review to admit new evidence omitted by counsel and ordered a rehearing, each party to bear own costs.
* Civil procedure – Review of judgment – Order 46 Rules – Review permitted where discovery of new and important evidence after due diligence; * Counsel negligence – failure to tender evidence may justify review to avoid injustice; * Preliminary objection that review equals appeal rejected where new evidence was not considered at trial; * Court set aside judgment and ordered expedited rehearing.
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6 February 2019 |
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Applicant entitled to professional and housing allowances; retirement benefits must be calculated on consolidated pay.
* UPDF entitlements – professional/qualification allowance – qualifications obtained while in service entitle an officer to professional allowance even without separate deployment.
* Retirement benefits – calculation on consolidated pay (basic salary plus professional allowance) where professional allowance is payable.
* Housing/accommodation allowance – entitlement where quarters not provided; payment at applicable rates for rank and years served.
* Payment in lieu of untaken leave – admitted entitlement.
* Damages – award of general damages; aggravated damages not awarded.
* Interest and costs – statutory interest rates and costs awarded to applicant.
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5 February 2019 |