Chief Registrar of Titles v Sudaplast Industries (Civil Appeal 6 of 1998)

Court of Appeal · [1999] UGCA 52 · 1999 Appeal Allowed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download

Jurisdiction

Uganda

Case Type

Civil appeal from the High Court, determined on counsel's concession that the originating proceedings were a nullity

Decision

Appeal allowed; impugned High Court proceedings quashed and orders set aside as a nullity

The full judgment

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AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions — always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

Counsel for the respondent conceded that he had no valid practising certificate when he filed the originating High Court applications, rendering all subsequent proceedings a nullity. The court agreed that the proceedings in Misc. Application No. 93/95 and No. 266/95 were a nullity. It allowed the appeal, quashed those proceedings and set aside the orders made under them. Because the respondent's counsel filed the proceedings knowing he had no practising certificate, the court ordered him to personally pay the costs of the High Court proceedings and of the appeal.

Facts

The respondent's counsel had filed Misc. Application No. 93/95 in the High Court while he did not hold a valid practising certificate. Further proceedings, including Misc. Application No. 266/95, followed and orders were made. When the appeal came up for hearing in the Court of Appeal, counsel for the respondent conceded that he had lacked a valid practising certificate at the time of filing the application and that all subsequent proceedings were therefore a nullity, meaning there was no competent appeal before the court. The Commissioner for Civil Litigation, appearing for the appellant, agreed that the High Court proceedings were a nullity and should be quashed and the orders set aside, and submitted that the appellant should have costs because it was the respondent's counsel who filed the proceedings despite knowing he had no practising certificate.

Issues

Whether proceedings filed by an advocate who lacked a valid practising certificate were a nullity rendering the subsequent appeal incompetent.

Orders

Appeal allowed.
Proceedings in Misc. Application No. 93/95 and No. 266/95 quashed.
Orders made thereunder set aside.
Costs of the proceedings awarded to the appellant.
Counsel for the respondent to personally pay the costs of the High Court proceedings and of the appeal.

Key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Practising Certificates — Proceedings Filed by Advocate Without Valid Certificate Are a Nullity

Proceedings filed by an advocate who does not hold a valid practising certificate at the time of filing are a nullity, and all subsequent proceedings founded on them, including any resulting appeal, are likewise invalid.

Civil Procedure — Costs — Personal Liability of Counsel

Where counsel files proceedings knowing he lacks a valid practising certificate, thereby rendering the proceedings a nullity, the court may order that counsel personally pay the costs occasioned by those proceedings.

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.