Kawalya and Another v Reamaton (Civil Appeal 6 of 1999; Civil Appeal 7 of 1999)

Court of Appeal · [1999] UGCA 34 · 1999 Preliminary Objection Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download

Jurisdiction

Uganda

Case Type

Reference to a single Judge against the order of the Registrar (taxing officer) under Rule 109, with a preliminary objection on the form of the reference

Decision

Preliminary objection rejected with costs; reference to proceed

The full judgment

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Holding

On a preliminary objection that a reference under Rule 109 of the Court of Appeal Rules was defective for lacking formal grounds of appeal, the single Judge held that Rule 109 does not require a reference to be accompanied by a formal memorandum of appeal; indeed sub-rule (5) permits a reference to be made informally. A reference need only contain some complaint against the Registrar's decision and a prayer, both of which the applicant's letter contained. The Makumbi case relied upon by the respondent laid down no such procedural rule. The preliminary objection was found to have no merit and was rejected with costs to the applicant.

Facts

The matter came before a single Judge of the Court of Appeal by way of a reference under Rule 109 against the order of the Registrar acting as taxing officer. The reference was made by a letter dated 11 February 1999 written by the applicant's counsel to the Registrar. The letter set out two matters of principle: whether the taxing master erred in not taking into account that the applicants chose not to prosecute the application, thereby saving the court's and counsel's time; and whether the taxing master erred in taking into account the subject matter of the main suit. The letter also contained a prayer that the court substitute the instruction fees award for a lower and reasonable one and award costs of the reference. When the reference was called for hearing, the respondent's counsel raised a preliminary objection that the reference was defective for failing to state grounds of reference in the form of an appeal.

Issues

Whether a reference to a Judge under Rule 109 of the Court of Appeal Rules must be accompanied by formal grounds of appeal.
Whether the reference made by letter was defective for failing to state grounds and a prayer.

Orders

Preliminary objection rejected.
Costs of the preliminary objection awarded to the applicant.

Key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Taxation of Costs — References under Rule 109 — Form of Reference

A reference to a Judge against a taxing officer's decision under Rule 109 of the Court of Appeal Rules need not be accompanied by formal grounds in the form of a memorandum of appeal; it need only contain some complaint against the Registrar's decision, and under sub-rule (5) may be made informally.

Civil Procedure — Taxation of Costs — Sufficiency of Notice in Reference

Where grounds of reference and a prayer for relief are set out in a letter to the Registrar, this is sufficient to put the opposing party on notice of the matters complained of and to comply with the requirements for a valid reference under Rule 109.

Legislation cited (2)

Rules of the Court of Appeal Rule 109
Rules of the Court of Appeal Third Schedule paragraph 12

Cases cited (1)

Patrick Makumbi v Sole Electrics (U) Ltd (Civil Application No. 11 of 1994)

Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.