Wakilii

Labour Inspector v Patrai (Revision Case 98-1928.)

East African Court of Appeal · [1928] EACA 14 · 1928 Conviction Upheld AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal revision from lower court conviction
Decision
Accused convicted of breach of section 6 of the Employment of Natives Ordinance

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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.

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 held that the Employment of Natives Ordinance contemplates a personal contract between employer and employee and does not sanction an employer hiring out employees to a third party. An employee becomes the servant of the person under whose orders he comes. The native ceased to be employed by the intermediary Alam Khan and became the employee of the accused when working under the accused's orders. The conviction for breach of section 6 of the Employment of Natives Ordinance was upheld.

Outcome

Accused convicted of breach of section 6 of the Employment of Natives Ordinance

Facts

The accused agreed to hire labourers from Alam Khan at Sh. 1/60 per diem, with payment made to Alam Khan who had signed on the natives. Alam Khan had employed natives to work on railway construction but had no such work himself and hired them out to the accused. The accused did not endorse the native's certificate as required by section 6 of the Native Registration Ordinance. The defence argued the natives were employed for less than twenty-four hours and therefore no endorsement was required. The Magistrate convicted the accused of breaching the Employment of Natives Ordinance.

Issues

  1. Whether the accused was required to endorse the native's certificate under section 6 of the Native Registration Ordinance when the native was procured through an intermediary.
  2. Whether the Employment of Natives Ordinance permits an employer to hire out employees to a third party.
  3. Whether an employee becomes the servant of the person under whose orders he comes.

Orders

  • Conviction upheld.

Rules and key headnotes

Employment & Labour — Contract of Service — Personal Contract Requirement
The Employment of Natives Ordinance contemplates a personal contract between the employer and employee and does not provide for or sanction an employer hiring out his employees to a third party.
Employment & Labour — Master and Servant — Transfer of Employment
An employee becomes the servant of the person under whose orders he comes, regardless of the contractual arrangements between the original employer and the third party.
Employment & Labour — Native Registration — Endorsement Obligation
Where a person procures the services of a native worker through an intermediary and the native works under that person's orders, that person is required to endorse the native's certificate under section 6 of the Native Registration Ordinance.

Legislation cited (2)

  • Native Registration Ordinance (Cap. 127) s.6
  • Employment of Natives Ordinance (Cap. 189)

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Labour Inspector v Patrai (Revision Case 98-1928.) [1928] EACA 14 (1 January 1928)
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.