Kanyankore & 4 Ors v Baligira & 7 Ors (Civil Application No. 30 of 2018)

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

The Court of Appeal dismissed an application for stay of execution. Execution of the decree over the suit property had already been completed before the appeal was heard, and the applicants had lost that appeal, so a stay was no longer possible. At the hearing, counsel abandoned the pleaded relief and instead sought orally to stay payment of costs, a relief neither pleaded nor supported by grounds. The court held that applicants must be bound to their pleadings and cannot present one case in writing and advance another orally. The court also observed that the proper procedure, following dismissal by a single justice, was a reference under Rule 55 rather than a fresh application. The application was dismissed with costs.

Outcome

Application for stay of execution dismissed with costs

Facts

The respondents had succeeded in Civil Appeal No. 100 of 2014, in which the applicants were the losing party and the decree of the court of first instance was reaffirmed. The applicants applied to the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in Civil Application No. 272 of 2017. Pending that determination, they filed the present application seeking a stay of execution of the judgment and decree, and provision for costs. Two of the named applicants had died before the application was filed, and counsel proceeded only for the surviving applicants. Counsel conceded that execution of the suit property had been completed before the appeal was heard, and the land was in the respondents' possession. At the hearing counsel abandoned the pleaded relief and instead sought orally to stay payment of costs taxed in the High Court and pending taxation in the Court of Appeal, though no such relief or grounds had been pleaded.

Issues

1. Whether the applicants were entitled to a stay of execution where execution of the decree over the suit property had already been completed.
2. Whether the court could grant relief (stay of payment of costs) advanced orally that was not pleaded in the notice of motion.

Orders

• Application dismissed.
• Costs of the application awarded to the respondents.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (2)

• Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions Rule 55
• Judicature Act s.12(2)

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.

• Lweza Clays Ltd & Anor v Tropical Bank Ltd & Anor (Civil Application 31 of 2018)

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