Erimu Augustine and Others v Soroti University (Civil Appeal No. 251 of 2023)

Court of Appeal · [2026] UGCA 177 · 2026 Appeal Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download

Jurisdiction

Uganda

Case Type

First appeal from a High Court judgment dismissing the appellants' counterclaim in a land ownership dispute

Decision

Appeal dismissed; the High Court judgment affirming the respondent's registered title to Plot 51 stands

The full judgment

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Holding

On a first appeal in a land dispute, the Court of Appeal held that the appellants failed to prove customary ownership of the suit land, having led no evidence of the custom under which they occupied it; they were squatters who entered government land without authority and were not entitled to compensation. As registered proprietor under a leasehold title transferred from Teso University, the respondent could not be a trespasser, and no fraud was attributable to it since it neither surveyed the land nor processed the title. The trial judge did not ignore the consent order concerning Plot 50, which was not in contention. The appeal was dismissed with costs.

Facts

The appellants counterclaimed that they held the suit land at Aputon (Block 7, Plot 51) under customary tenure inherited from their forefathers, occupying it with homesteads, crops and graves from time immemorial. They alleged the respondent, Soroti University, fraudulently surveyed and obtained a certificate of title over their customary land, then with police assistance graded roads, destroyed crops and harassed them. The respondent, gazetted as a public university in 2015, asserted the land was originally Crown/government land held by Teso African Local Government, parcelled to Teso College of Higher Education (TECHE), then Teso University, and transferred to it by a Memorandum of Understanding dated 13 April 2013. The land had been registered under a leasehold title in 1996, before the respondent's involvement. Three earlier occupants were compensated in 1956 and vacated. An earlier consent order had settled Plot 50, leaving only Plot 51 in contention. The High Court dismissed the counterclaim, holding Plot 51 belonged to the respondent.

Issues

Whether the appellants held the suit land (Plot 51) under customary tenure.
Whether the respondent acquired the certificate of title to the suit land through fraud.
Whether the respondent, as registered proprietor, was a trespasser on Plot 51.
Whether the appellants had a cause of action against the respondent in respect of the suit land.
Whether the trial judge erred in his treatment of the consent order concerning Plot 50.

Orders

Appeal dismissed with costs.

Key headnotes

Tort Law — Trespass to Land — Possession and Standing to Sue

Trespass to land protects the person in actual or constructive possession; physical presence on land is insufficient, and a claimant must prove ownership or an interest in the land to maintain an action for trespass.

Land & Property — Customary Tenure — Proof as a Fact

A customary tenancy must be accurately and definitely established as a fact by evidence of the custom or practice under which the land is held; mere occupation or development of vacant land does not ipso facto create a customary interest.

Land & Property — Registered Land — Indefeasibility of Title

A certificate of title is conclusive evidence of ownership and indefeasible save in the limited statutory instances such as fraud; a registered proprietor whose title has not been successfully challenged cannot be a trespasser.

Land & Property — Fraud — Attribution to and Proof Against the Transferee

Fraud sufficient to defeat a registered title must be strictly proved to a standard higher than the balance of probabilities and must be attributable to the transferee, either directly or by necessary implication.

Civil Procedure — Pleadings — Specific Pleading and Particulars of Fraud

Fraud must be specifically pleaded with particulars set out on the face of the pleading and must be as distinctly proved; it may not be left to be inferred from the facts.

Land & Property — Possession — Possessory Title

Possession of land confers a possessory title upon the holder, enforceable against everyone except a person who can show a prior and therefore better right to possession.

Land & Property — Squatters — Entitlement to Compensation

A person who enters and occupies land without the lawful permission of its owner is a squatter and is not entitled to compensation.

Legislation cited (9)

Registration of Titles Act, Cap 240, s.59
Registration of Titles Act, Cap 240, s.76
Registration of Titles Act, Cap 240, s.160
Registration of Titles Act s.56
Registration of Titles Act s.176
Registration of Titles Act s.184
Evidence Act, Cap 6, s.103
Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions S.I. 13-10, Rule 30(1)(a)
Land Act s.1(1)

Cases cited (20)

Fr. Nanensio Begumisa and 3 Others v Eric Tiberaga (Civil Appeal No. 17 of 2000)
Marko Matovu & 2 Others v Mohammed Sseviiri & Anor (Civil Appeal No. 7 of 1978)
Crane Bank Ltd v Nipun Narottam Bhatia (Civil Appeal No. 2 of 2014)
David Sejjaka Nalima v Rebecca Musoke (Civil Appeal No. 12 of 1985)
Balamu Bwetegaine Kiiza & Anor v Zephania Kadooba Kiiza (Civil Appeal No. 59 of 2009)
Isaaya Kalya v Moses Macekenyu Ikagobya (Civil Appeal No. 82 of 2012)
Kampala Bottlers Ltd v Damanico (U) Ltd (Civil Appeal No. 22 of 1992)
Kasifa Namusisi & Others v Francis M.K Ntabaazi (Civil Appeal No. 4 of 2004)
Justine E.M.N Lutaya v Sterling Civil Engineering Company Ltd (Civil Appeal No. 11 of 2002)
Sheik Muhammed Lubowa v Kitara Enterprises Ltd (Civil Appeal No. 4 of 1987)
Boiti Bonny v Imalingat Lawrence (Civil Appeal No. 239 of 2016)
Asher v Whitlock (1865) LR 1 QB 1
Zaabwe v Orient Bank Ltd and 5 Others (Civil Appeal No. 4 of 2006)
Waimiha Sawmilling Company Ltd v Waione Timber Company Ltd [1926] A.C. 101
Assets Co. v. Mere Roihi
Davy v Garret (1878) 7 Ch. D. 473
B.E.A. Timber Co v Inder Singh Gill [1959] E.A. 463
Charles Lwanga Masengere v God Kabagambe and 2 Others (Civil Application No. 125 of 2009)
Kampala District Land Board and George Mutale v Venansio Babweyaka and Others (Civil Appeal No. 2 of 2001)
Bwetegeine Kiiza & Anor v Kadooba Kiiza (Civil Appeal No. 59 of 2009)

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