Wakilii

The Registered trustees of Soroti Catholic Diocese v Imalingat (Miscellaneous Application 24 of 2022)

High Court · [2022] UGHCCRD 83 · 2022 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for leave to file an appeal out of time to the Court of Appeal following judgment in High Court Civil Suit No. 19 of 2016
Decision
Application dismissed for lack of jurisdiction

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 High Court has no jurisdiction to grant an extension of time to file a memorandum of appeal in the Court of Appeal. Once a notice of appeal has been filed in the appellate court, any application for extension of time to file the memorandum of appeal must be made to that appellate court, not the High Court. The application was dismissed as filed in the wrong court.

Outcome

Application dismissed for lack of jurisdiction

Facts

The applicant was the defendant in High Court Civil Suit No. 19 of 2016 concerning trespass on land in Soroti. Judgment was delivered against the applicant on 15 July 2019. The applicant filed a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal on the same date and applied for certified proceedings, which were collected on 3 October 2019. The applicant engaged a business centre in Tororo to prepare the memorandum of appeal. The applicant claimed that COVID-19 lockdowns from March 2020 disrupted the preparation of appeal documents when the business centre laid off employees. The memorandum of appeal was never filed within the prescribed time. The applicant then filed this application in the High Court seeking leave to file the appeal out of time.

Issues

  1. Whether the High Court has jurisdiction to grant an extension of time to file a memorandum of appeal in the Court of Appeal.
  2. Whether the applicant demonstrated sufficient reason for the delay in filing the memorandum of appeal.

Orders

  • Application dismissed.
  • Costs awarded to the respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Appeals — Jurisdiction — Extension of Time
Once a notice of appeal has been lodged in the Court of Appeal, any application for extension of time to file a memorandum of appeal must be made to the Court of Appeal, not the High Court, as the High Court lacks jurisdiction to grant such an extension.
Appeals — Time Limits — Memorandum of Appeal
Under rule 42 of the Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions, an appeal must be instituted by lodging a memorandum of appeal within sixty days after the date when the notice of appeal was lodged, subject to exclusion of time taken to obtain certified proceedings.
Jurisdiction — Court Competence
The High Court's appellate jurisdiction is limited to appeals that lie to it by virtue of section 16(1) of the Judicature Act and Article 134 of the Constitution, and does not extend to granting procedural relief in respect of appeals pending before the Court of Appeal.

Legislation cited (10)

Full judgment

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

The Registered trustees of Soroti Catholic Diocese v Imalingat (Miscellaneous Application 24 of 2022) [2022] UGHCCRD 83 (14 July 2022)
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.