Wakilii

Katwateki v Turinawe (Civil Appeal No. 0035 of 2010)

High Court · [2011] UGHC 165 · 2011 Appeal Dismissed (Struck Out) AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Civil appeal from Chief Magistrate's Court judgment with preliminary objections raised by the respondent
Decision
Appeal struck out as incompetent

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court struck out a civil appeal from the Chief Magistrate's Court as incompetent. Although the appeal was filed within time, the appellant fatally failed to extract and file the decree being appealed against. This irregularity could not be cured by amendment or by subsequently extracting the decree, as appeals under Magistrate's Court Act s.220 require a formal decree or order to be filed with the memorandum of appeal.

Outcome

Appeal struck out as incompetent

Facts

The appellant filed an appeal from a judgment of the Chief Magistrate of Rukungiri delivered on 8 September 2010. A notice of appeal was filed on 17 September 2010, and a memorandum of appeal on 13 October 2010. The respondent raised two preliminary objections: first, that the appeal was filed out of time; second, that the appeal was filed without first extracting the decree being appealed from. The appellant conceded that no decree had been extracted and applied for an adjournment to amend the record of appeal.

Issues

  1. Whether the appeal was filed out of time.
  2. Whether the appeal was incompetent for failure to extract and file a decree from the original suit.

Orders

  • Second preliminary objection upheld.
  • Appeal struck out on the ground that it is incompetent.
  • Costs awarded to the respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Appeals to High Court — Time Limits — Computation of Time
In computing time for filing an appeal, where a notice of appeal is filed within time but the memorandum of appeal is delayed pending supply of typed proceedings, weekends and public holidays must be deducted from the number of available days, and the appeal is not out of time if the notice was filed within the prescribed period.
Civil Procedure — Appeals from Magistrate's Court — Duty to Extract Decree
Under the Magistrate's Court Act s.220, the duty to extract the decree for purposes of appeal lies with the unsuccessful party, and the decree must be filed together with the memorandum of appeal.
Civil Procedure — Appeals from Magistrate's Court — Incompetent Appeal — Failure to File Decree
Failure to extract and file the decree or formal order being appealed against is a fatal irregularity that renders the appeal incompetent from the start, and such an appeal must be struck out as the irregularity cannot be cured by amendment, filing a supplementary record, or by subsequently extracting and filing the decree.
Civil Procedure — Amendment — Limits of Amendment Power
A court cannot grant an adjournment to cure pleadings that are incompetent from the start; amendment can cure sick pleadings but not dead ones, and the remedy for an incompetent appeal is to strike it out.

Legislation cited (1)

  • Magistrate's Court Act s.220

Cases cited (2)

  • Kabwimukye v Kasigwa (1978 HCB 252)
  • Commissioner of Transport v Attorney General of Uganda & Another (1999 EA 329)

Full judgment

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

Katwateki v Turinawe (Civil Appeal No. 0035 of 2010) [2011] UGHC 165 (29 November 2011)
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.