Wakilii

Connect Financial Services Limited v Middlenorth Co-operative Union Limited (Civil Revision No. 65 of 2017)

High Court · [2020] UGHC 143 · 2020 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for revision of Chief Magistrate's Court decision on distress for rent proceedings
Decision
Application for revision dismissed

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court held that revision lies only on grounds of jurisdiction, not errors on the merits. The magistrate had jurisdiction to decide the distress for rent claim and deciding it wrongly does not amount to illegal or materially irregular exercise of jurisdiction. The appropriate remedy for alleged errors on the merits is appeal, not revision. The application was also barred by unexplained delay of nearly five years.

Outcome

Application for revision dismissed

Facts

The parties entered into a memorandum of understanding registered on 31 December 2009 whereby the respondent handed over buildings to the applicant for thirty years. The applicant was to renovate the buildings with costs offset against rent. The applicant defaulted on rent payments and the respondent initiated distress for rent proceedings. The applicant opposed the proceedings arguing the memorandum constituted a partnership agreement and alternatively that renovation costs of UGX 141,815,000 exceeded the amount claimed. On 15 November 2012, the Chief Magistrate ruled in favour of the respondent for UGX 19,100,000 as rent arrears. The applicant's application for leave to appeal out of time was dismissed. The decree was executed by warrant of arrest against the applicant's Managing Director who paid the amount. The applicant filed for revision on 7 April 2017, nearly five years after the original decision.

Issues

  1. Whether the Chief Magistrate failed to exercise jurisdiction vested in him by disregarding the applicant's defence and counterclaim in distress for rent proceedings.
  2. Whether the Chief Magistrate acted illegally or with material irregularity in the exercise of his jurisdiction.
  3. Whether the High Court should exercise its revisional jurisdiction given the lapse of time since the original order.

Orders

  • Application dismissed.
  • No order as to costs since the respondent did not file an affidavit in reply.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Revision — Scope of Revisional Jurisdiction under Section 83 Civil Procedure Act
The High Court's revisional jurisdiction under section 83 of the Civil Procedure Act is limited to examining whether the magistrate's court (a) exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it in law; (b) failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested; or (c) acted in the exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity or injustice. This provision applies to jurisdiction alone, the irregular exercise of or non-exercise of it or the illegal assumption of it. Non-jurisdictional errors are not subject to the power of revision.
Civil Procedure — Revision — Distinction between Revision and Appeal
The High Court will not in its revisional jurisdiction consider the merits of the case however erroneous the decision of the court below is on an issue of law or of fact but will interfere only to see that requirements of law have been properly followed by the court whose order is the subject of revision. Where it is contended that the decision was wrong on merits, as opposed to jurisdiction, the appropriate remedy is appeal not revision.
Civil Procedure — Revision — Failure to Exercise Jurisdiction
The expression 'to have failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested' requires the court to have refrained from invoking an authority or power vested in it by reason of misdirection as regards the limits of its jurisdiction. Where the subordinate court has jurisdiction to determine a question, it has jurisdiction to decide wrong as well as right, hence a wrong decision is not an irregular exercise of jurisdiction. A contention that the court ignored or failed to have regard to evidence relied upon by one of the parties cannot be the subject matter of an allegation of a failure to exercise a jurisdiction so vested.
Civil Procedure — Revision — Discretionary Nature and Effect of Delay
The power of revision is discretionary and will not be exercised where, from lapse of time or other cause, it would involve serious hardship to any person. The High Court is not bound to interfere merely because the conditions are satisfied and the power of revision will ordinarily not be exercised except where it would finally dispose of the suit or other proceeding, or if allowed to stand, the order would occasion a failure of justice or cause irreparable injury to the applicant. Unexplained delay in coming to court is considered as a bar in obtaining relief in discretionary remedies.

Legislation cited (4)

Cases cited (1)

  • Matemba v Yamulinga [1968] EA 643

Full judgment

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

Connect Financial Services Limited v Middlenorth Co-operative Union Limited (Civil Revision No. 65 of 2017) [2020] UGHC 143 (23 July 2020)
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.