Wakilii

Kananura Melvin Consulting Engineers v Kabanda (Civil Application 11 of 1992)

Supreme Court · [1992] UGSC 22 · 1992 Application Granted ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to the Supreme Court for extension of time to file a notice of appeal
Decision
Application for extension of time to file a notice of appeal granted; notice deemed properly lodged and time extended

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Holding

On an application to extend time to file a notice of appeal, the court held that the applicant's mistake in paying appeal fees in the Supreme Court rather than the High Court was excusable, the Supreme Court itself being partly at fault in accepting the fees. An error of omission by counsel is no longer regarded as necessarily fatal to an application under Rule 4 of the Supreme Court Rules, and lay litigants who relied on assurances from negligent counsel should not be deprived of the right to have their intended appeal heard on the merits. Special reasons existed and the extension was granted.

Facts

Judgment in the underlying High Court suit was delivered in 1991. The applicants' counsel filed a notice of appeal in the Supreme Court and paid court fees there, then lodged a notice in the High Court without paying further fees, the High Court clerk not requiring a second payment. In a stay-of-execution application the High Court held that, no fees having been paid in that court, no valid notice of appeal had been lodged there. The applicants' counsel also failed to copy a letter requesting proceedings to the respondent and failed to extract the decree, and the earlier notice and memorandum of appeal were struck out for being filed out of time. The applicants, described as laymen, had instructed counsel shortly after judgment and received repeated false assurances that the appeal papers had been filed. They applied for an extension of time to file a fresh notice of appeal.

Issues

  1. Whether the failure to pay appeal fees in the High Court, where the fees had instead been paid in the Supreme Court, was the type of mistake that could be excused.
  2. Whether sufficient reason had been shown under Rule 4 of the Supreme Court Rules to extend the time for filing a notice of appeal.

Orders

  • Extension of time granted under Rule 4 of the Supreme Court Rules.
  • The notice of appeal lodged in the High Court deemed to have been properly lodged on the date it was lodged in the High Court.
  • The fees paid in the Supreme Court deemed to have been lodged in the High Court, the receipt noted in the High Court as payment made.
  • Time to file the notice of appeal extended to 3rd April 1992, and 30 days thereafter for filing the appeal.
  • No order for costs.

Key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Extension of Time to Appeal — Excusable Mistake — Court's Own Fault
Where the court itself is partly at fault, such as by accepting appeal fees it should not have accepted, the resulting mistake is excusable and relief by way of extension of time should normally be granted.
Civil Procedure — Extension of Time to Appeal — Error of Counsel
An error of omission by counsel is no longer considered necessarily fatal to an application to extend time under Rule 4 of the Supreme Court Rules.
Civil Procedure — Extension of Time to Appeal — Diligence of Lay Litigant
An intending appellant must exercise due diligence to prosecute the appeal, but lay litigants who reasonably rely on false assurances from negligent counsel should not for that reason be deprived of the right to have their intended appeal adjudicated on its merits.

Legislation cited (6)

  • Supreme Court Rules r.4
  • Supreme Court Rules r.76
  • Supreme Court Rules r.81(1)
  • Supreme Court Rules r.85(1)
  • Registration of Titles Act s.189
  • Registration of Titles Act s.199

Cases cited (10)

  • Gatti v Shoosmith [1939] 3 All E.R. 916
  • Executrix of the Estate of the late Christine Mary Namatovu Tebajjukira v Noel G. Shalita (Civil Appeal No. 8 of 1988)
  • Attorney General v Orient Construction Co. Ltd (Civil Appeal No. 7 of 1990)
  • Shanti v Handocha & Ors [1973] E.A. 207
  • Mary Kyamulabi v Nirondomu [1980] HCB 11
  • Essagi v Solanki [1968] E.A. 218
  • Ben Kiwanuka v Haji Nurdin Matovu (Civil Appeal No. 17 of 1990)
  • Mugo v Wanjiru [1970] E.A. 484
  • Asadi Woke Vo Livingstone Go... [OCR garbled]
  • Bahitara Transport Bus Co. Ltd v Biribonwa (Civil Appeal No. 7 of 1978)
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.