Wakilii

Jaffer Brothers Limited v Departed Asian Properties Custodian Board (Civil Application 24 of 1999)

Supreme Court · [2000] UGSC 24 · 2000 Reference Allowed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Reference to the full Supreme Court from a single justice's decision on taxation of costs (rule 105(7) of the Rules of the Supreme Court).
Decision
Single justice's order set aside; instruction fees fixed at Shs 10,000,000 with costs to the applicant.

Observed later treatment

Treatment recorded in citing cases applied in 1 Sequitur — Uganda’s citator · Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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.

Good law Followed in 0 cases and applied in 1 case, with no adverse treatment recorded. Citations rising — 3 citing cases on record, 3 in the most recent three data years. Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — a deterministic signal, not legal advice.

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

On a reference to the full court under rule 105(7), the Supreme Court considered whether a single justice erred in reducing instruction fees taxed in the applicant's favour from Shs 16,000,000 to Shs 4,000,000. The court held that the single justice wrongly distinguished between interlocutory and substantive proceedings, and wrongly treated written submissions as warranting lower fees than oral argument, when assessing costs. It found that the respondent's conduct had forced the applicant to undertake extensive legal research. The court set aside the single justice's order and substituted an award of Shs 10,000,000 as instruction fees, with costs to the applicant.

Outcome

Single justice's order set aside; instruction fees fixed at Shs 10,000,000 with costs to the applicant.

Facts

Jaffer Brothers, a company whose shareholders and directors were Asians, owned residential premises in Kololo, Kampala. Following the 1972 expulsion of Asians from Uganda, the property was expropriated under the Assets of Departed Asians Decree 1973 and vested in the Custodian Board, which sold it on. After enactment of the Expropriated Properties Act 1982, the applicant successfully applied for return of the property. Litigation followed, culminating in the Custodian Board's appeal to the Supreme Court, which was dismissed with costs to the applicant. The applicant filed a bill of costs of Shs 30,600,000; the taxing officer allowed Shs 16,000,000 as instruction fees for opposing the appeal. The Custodian Board referred the taxation to a single justice, who reduced the instruction fees to Shs 4,000,000. The applicant then referred that decision to the full court.

Issues

  1. Whether the single justice erred in reducing the instruction fees taxed in the applicant's favour from Shs 16,000,000 to Shs 4,000,000.
  2. Whether the single justice was right to treat the matter as not complex on the basis that the submissions were written rather than oral.
  3. Whether the interlocutory or substantive character of the underlying proceedings was a proper criterion for assessing the instruction fees.
  4. Whether costs of the reference should be awarded.

Orders

  • Reference allowed.
  • Orders of the single justice set aside.
  • Award of Shs 10,000,000 as instruction fees substituted in favour of the applicant.
  • Costs of the reference awarded to the applicant.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Costs — Taxation — Interlocutory versus Substantive Proceedings
The distinction between interlocutory and substantive proceedings is not a decisive criterion in assessing instruction fees on taxation, though it may serve as a rough guide; each case must be assessed on its own facts and circumstances.
Civil Procedure — Costs — Taxation — Written versus Oral Submissions
Whether a party's submissions were written or oral is not a fair basis for a decision on costs, because a written submission may require as much effort and preparation as oral argument.
Civil Procedure — Costs — Taxation — Conduct of Parties
The conduct of parties is relevant to the amount of costs incurred; a respondent whose counsel compels the opposing party to undertake extensive research and to contest the merits may properly bear higher instruction fees.
Civil Procedure — Costs — Reference to the Full Court — Interference with Single Justice's Assessment
On a reference under rule 105(7), the full court may set aside and substitute a single justice's assessment of costs where the single justice applied wrong principles in fixing the award.

Legislation cited (4)

Cases cited (2)

  • Makumbi
  • Registered Trustees of Kampala Institute v Departed Asians Property Custodian Board [1993]

Cases citing this judgment (3)

How later Ugandan judgments in the Wakilii corpus have cited this case. Treatment labels come from Sequitur — Uganda’s citator — each backed by a verbatim span from the citing judgment, and are not an assertion that this case is, or is not, good law.

Full judgment

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

Jaffer Brothers Limited v Departed Asian Properties Custodian Board (Civil Application 24 of 1999) [2000] UGSC 24 (7 May 2000)
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.