Wakilii

Obong Walter and Another v Agwero Amstrong (Civil Appeal 76 of 2022)

High Court · [2025] UGHC 981 · 2025 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Civil appeal from Magistrate Grade One of Nwoya in Civil Suit No. 066 of 2018
Decision
Appeal dismissed with costs to the respondent; judgment of the trial Magistrate declaring the respondent as owner of the suit land and awarding general damages of UGX 10,000,000 upheld

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court dismissed the appeal, holding that there was no contradiction in the respondent's evidence regarding the size of the suit land, as other witnesses' failure to mention size did not constitute contradiction. The court found that the trial Magistrate properly conducted the locus in quo, drawing a sketch map that delineated the suit land by its physical boundaries and neighbors, which prevail over admeasurements. The award of UGX 10,000,000 in general damages was justified and reasonable given the respondent's inconvenience and denial of quiet enjoyment of his land from 2008 onwards.

Outcome

Appeal dismissed with costs to the respondent; judgment of the trial Magistrate declaring the respondent as owner of the suit land and awarding general damages of UGX 10,000,000 upheld

Facts

The respondent claimed ownership of approximately 30 acres of unregistered land at Te-got B Village, Nwoya District, inherited from his father Jabuloni Oryema, who inherited it from Samson Apan. The family left the land in 1958 due to misfortunes but the respondent's father returned in 1978 and fled again in 1989 due to insurgency. When the respondent returned in 2008, he found the first appellant occupying the land with structures erected. The appellants claimed they inherited their respective portions from their fathers and had been in possession before the insurgency. The trial Magistrate declared the respondent the owner, awarded him UGX 10,000,000 in general damages, and granted vacant possession and a permanent injunction. The appellants appealed on grounds of contradictory evidence, improper conduct of locus in quo, and excessive damages.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial Magistrate erred in relying on contradictory evidence regarding the size of the suit land.
  2. Whether the trial Magistrate properly conducted the locus in quo and ascertained the size of the suit land.
  3. Whether the award of general damages of UGX 10,000,000 was excessive and without basis.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.
  • Costs of the appeal awarded to the respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

First Appellate Court — Duty to Reconsider Evidence
The duty of a first appellate court is to reconsider all material evidence that was before the trial court, and while making allowance for the fact that it has neither seen nor heard the witnesses, to come to its own conclusion on the evidence, considering the evidence on any issue in its totality and not any piece thereof in isolation.
Contradiction — Definition and Distinction from Discrepancy
Evidence contradicts another piece of evidence when it says the opposite of what the other piece of evidence has stated, not where there are mere discrepancies in details between them. Two pieces of evidence contradict one another when they are inconsistent on material facts, while a discrepancy occurs where a piece of evidence stops short of or contains a little more than what the other piece of evidence says or contains.
Locus in Quo — Purpose and Conduct
The purpose of visiting the locus in quo is to enable the trial judicial officer to understand the evidence better by checking the oral testimony of the witnesses in court vis-a-vis the physical features as shown by the witnesses at the locus in quo. A view of a locus in quo ought to be to check on the evidence already given and, where necessary and possible, to have such evidence ocularly demonstrated.
Land Description — Boundaries Prevail Over Admeasurements
Where land is described by its admeasurements and at the same time by known and visible monuments, the latter prevail. The question of quantity is mere matter of description if the boundaries are ascertained. There may be mistakes in measuring land, but there can be none in monuments.
General Damages — Definition and Assessment
General damages are those losses, usually but not exclusively non-pecuniary, which are not capable of precise quantification in monetary terms and are presumed to be the natural or probable consequence of the wrong complained of. They are the direct natural or probable consequences of the wrongful act complained of and include pain, suffering, inconvenience and anticipated future loss.
General Damages — Principle of Restitutio in Integrum
The fundamental principle by which courts are guided in determining the quantum of general damages is restitutio in integrum, meaning that the court should endeavor, so far as money can do, to place the injured person in the same situation they were in before the wrong was occasioned to them. Courts are guided by the value of the subject matter, the economic inconvenience that a party may have been put through, and the nature and extent of the breach.
Appellate Interference with Award of General Damages
An appellate court will not interfere with an award of damages by a trial court unless the trial court has acted upon a wrong principle of law or the amount is so high or so low as to make it an entirely erroneous estimate of the damages to which the plaintiff is entitled. An appellate court cannot substitute the amount awarded simply because it would have awarded a different figure if it had tried the case at first instance.

Legislation cited (2)

Cases cited (11)

  • Fr. Narsensio Begumisa and 3 Others v Eric Tibebaga (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 17 of 2000)
  • David Ojeabuo versus Federal Republic of Nigeria (2014) LPELR22555(CA)
  • Kayinamura Andrew v Uganda (Court of Appeal Criminal Appeal No. 124 of 2022)
  • William Mukasa versus Uganda (1964) EA 696
  • Ojara Samuel and 6 Others v Bwomi Zefi (High Court Civil Appeal No. 002 of 2016)
  • Makubuya Enock William (T/A Polla Plast) v UMEME (U) Limited (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 1 of 2019)
  • Storms Vs Hutchinson [1905] AC 515
  • Crown Beverages Ltd v Sendu Edwards (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 1 of 2005)
  • Kabandize John Baptist and 21 Others v Kampala Capital City Authority (Court of Appeal Civil Appeal No. 26 of 2016)
  • Uganda Commercial Bank v. Kigozi [2002] 1 EA. 305
  • Robert Cuossens v Attorney General (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 8 of 1999)

Full judgment

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

Obong Walter and Another v Agwero Amstrong (Civil Appeal 76 of 2022) [2025] UGHC 981 (17 September 2025)
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.