Byahugwaho & Anor v Nakabonye (Miscellenous Appeal No. 224 of 2017)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

The Court of Appeal dismissed an application for leave to adduce additional evidence in a second appeal originating from a High Court decision made in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction. The Court held that Rule 32(2) of the Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions clearly prohibits the Court from hearing additional evidence on a second appeal from the High Court acting in its appellate jurisdiction; on such an appeal the Court may only appraise the inferences of fact drawn by the trial court. The rule reflects the principle that there must be an end to litigation. The application was therefore incompetent and was dismissed with costs.

Outcome

Application for leave to adduce additional evidence dismissed with costs

Facts

The respondent, the wife of a former squatter on Ranch No. 49B of the Masaka Ranching Scheme, obtained a lease and later a certificate of title over a piece of land previously occupied by the first applicant. The trial court awarded the suit land to the respondent, and the High Court, on appeal, upheld that decision. On a second appeal to the Court of Appeal, the applicants sought leave to adduce additional evidence, namely a Local Council 1 recommendation and a handwritten document suggesting the respondent had applied for only 35 acres rather than the 75 acres covered by her deed plan, which the applicants contended showed fraud. The respondent contended the application was defective and that the document, dated August 2008, was made after she had acquired title and was unknown to her. The respondent's counsel raised a preliminary objection that the Court could not take additional evidence on a second appeal.

Issues

1. Whether the Court of Appeal has discretion to receive additional evidence on a second appeal from a decision of the High Court acting in its appellate jurisdiction.

Orders

• Application dismissed with costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (5)

• Judicature Act s.11
• Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 30(1)(b), (2), (3) & (4)
• Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 43
• Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 44
• Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 32(2)

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.