Wakilii

Kawuka v Karim (Civ. App. No. 18-1937)

East African Court of Appeal · [1938] EACA 37 · 1938 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for leave to appeal out of time from a judgment delivered over two years earlier
Decision
Application for leave to appeal out of time dismissed

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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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

The Court dismissed an application for leave to appeal brought nearly three years out of time. Held that ignorance of law, old age and lack of means do not constitute good grounds for allowing an appeal out of time. Until an applicant shows good grounds for the delay, any offer of security is irrelevant. Very special circumstances must be shown to justify reopening proceedings concluded years earlier.

Outcome

Application for leave to appeal out of time dismissed

Facts

The applicant sought leave to appeal from a judgment delivered on 4 October 1934, with reasons given on 28 February 1935. The application was brought nearly three years after the judgment. The applicant relied on grounds of ignorance of law, old age and lack of means to excuse the delay. In February 1937, the applicant had applied for a certified copy of the judgment and in March 1937 inquired through his advocate about the cost of certified proceedings. The applicant offered to give full security for the balance due under the original judgment and incidental costs. The applicant had been represented by an advocate at the original trial and had expressed intention to appeal when judgment was delivered.

Issues

  1. Whether ignorance of law, old age and lack of means constitute good grounds for granting leave to appeal out of time.
  2. Whether an offer of security is relevant to the determination of an application for leave to appeal out of time.

Orders

  • Application dismissed.
  • Costs awarded to the respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Appeals — Extension of Time — Grounds for Granting Leave
Ignorance of law, old age and lack of means are not good grounds for allowing an appeal out of time.
Civil Procedure — Appeals — Extension of Time — Relevance of Security
Until an applicant has shown that there are good grounds for allowing an appeal out of time, any offer of security is irrelevant to the determination of the application.
Civil Procedure — Appeals — Extension of Time — Very Special Circumstances Required
Where proceedings have been concluded for several years and property has passed as a result, very special circumstances must be shown to justify granting leave to appeal out of time, as the successful party has a vested right to the judgment which ought only to be disturbed in exceptional cases.
Civil Procedure — Appeals — Extension of Time — Ignorance of Time Limits
Ignorance of the time within which an appeal must be lodged is not a ground for granting an extension of time, particularly where the applicant was represented by an advocate at trial and expressed intention to appeal when judgment was delivered.

Legislation cited (1)

  • East African Court of Appeal Rules r.17

Cases cited (2)

  • Ribeiro v Sequeira and Siqueira (1 EACA 1)
  • Collins v Paddington Vestry (5 QBD 363)

Full judgment

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

Kawuka v Karim (Civ. App. No. 18-1937) [1938] EACA 37 (1 January 1938)
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.