Joseph v Betty (Civil Suit No 547 of 2006) (Civil Suit No 547 of 2006)

Observed later treatment

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

A transfer of registered land obtained through forgery of the registered owner's signature is fraudulent and void under section 77 of the Registration of Titles Act. A person who becomes registered through their own fraudulent act ceases to be a bona fide purchaser for value. The forged transfer and certificate of title must be cancelled under section 285.

Outcome

Certificate of title cancelled and land declared to belong to the estate; title to be registered in plaintiff's name as administrator

Facts

Jane Lusajjalubi Nalule was the registered owner of land comprised in Kyadondo Block 244 plot 1808 at Kisugu, Kampala, which she purchased in 1969. On 13 November 1995 the defendant lodged a transfer form dated 18 September 1998 purporting that the deceased had transferred the land to her for shs. 3,000,000. Before her death the deceased informed her son (the plaintiff) that someone had fraudulently transferred her land, and she lodged a caveat on 7 April 1999. After the deceased's death, the plaintiff was appointed administrator of her estate. A handwriting expert compared the signatures on the transfer documents with known specimens of the deceased's signature and concluded that the signatures on the transfer documents were forgeries.

Issues

1. Whether the defendant fraudulently transferred title for land at Kisugu Block 244 plot 1808.
2. What remedies are available to the plaintiff?

Orders

• The suit land comprised in Kyadondo Block 244 Plot 1808 measuring 0.10 hectare at Kisugu, Kampala belongs to the estate of the late Jane Lusajjalubi Nalule.
• Certificate of title in the names of the defendant be cancelled having obtained it by fraud and therefore null and void.
• Certificate of title be registered in the names of the plaintiff as the administrator of the estate of the deceased.
• General damages declined since the plaintiff had not been disposed of the property and has been renting the same to tenants.
• Costs of this suit awarded to the plaintiff.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (3)

• Registration of Titles Act s.176
• Registration of Titles Act s.77
• Registration of Titles Act s.285

Cases cited (3)

• Zebiya Ndagire v Leo Kasujja [1974] HCB 153
• Edward Musisi v Grindlays Bank (U) Ltd [1983] JCB 39
• Kigozi Mayambala v Sentamu [1987] JCB 68

Cases citing this judgment (1)

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.

• Kizza v Kabugo (Civil Suit No. 685 of 2019)

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