Section 1: Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- "action" includes any proceeding in a court; "award" means an award of an arbitrator under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, or a foreign award within the meaning of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act; "court" means the High Court or a magistrate's court; "enactment" means a legislative instrument having effect in Uganda; "land" includes corporeal hereditaments and rent charges, and any legal or equitable estate or interest in them, including an interest in the proceeds of the sale of land held on trust for sale, but except as provided in this definition does not include any incorporeal hereditament; "magistrate's court" means a court established under the Magistrates Courts Act; "officer", in relation to the Government, includes the President, a Minister and any servant of the Government; "personal estates" and "personal property" do not include chattels real; "personal injuries" includes any disease and any impairment of a person's physical or mental condition; "personal representative" has the same meaning as in the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act; "rent" includes a rent charge; "rent charge" means any annuity or periodical sum of money charged upon or payable out of land, except interest on a mortgage of land; "submission" means a written agreement to submit present or future differences to arbitration, whether an arbitrator is named in the agreement or not; "trust", "trustee" and "trust for sale" have the same meanings respectively as in the Trustees Act. (2) For the purposes of this Act, proceedings by or against the Government shall include proceedings by or against any Government department or officer of the Government as such. (3) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed to be under a disability while he or she is an infant or suffers from mental illness. (4) For the purposes of subsection (3), but without prejudice to its generality, a person shall be conclusively presumed to be suffering from mental illness while he or she is detained in pursuance of any enactment authorising the detention of persons suffering from mental illness or criminal lunatics. (5) A person shall be deemed to claim through another person if he or she became entitled by, through, under or by the act of that other person to the right claimed; except that a person becoming entitled to any estate or interest by virtue of a special power of appointment shall not be deemed to claim through the appointor. (6) References in this Act to a right of action to recover land shall include references to a right to enter into possession of the land or, in the case of rent charges, to distrain for arrears of rent, and references to the bringing of an action in respect of such a right of action shall include references to the making of such an entry or distress. (7) References in this Act to the possession of land shall, in the case of rent charges, be construed as references to the receipt of the rent, and references to the date of dispossession or discontinuance of possession of land shall, in the case of rent charges, be construed as references to the date of the last receipt of rent. (8) In Part III of this Act, references to a right of action shall include references to a cause of action and to a right to receive money secured by a mortgage or charge on any property or to recover proceeds of the sale of land, and to a right to receive a share or interest in the personal estate of a deceased person; and references to the date of the accrual of a right of action shall- (a) in the case of an action for an account, be construed as references to the date on which the matter arose in respect of which an account is claimed; (b) in the case of an action upon a judgment, be construed as references to the date on which the judgment became enforceable; (c) in the case of an action to recover arrears of rent or interest, or damages in respect of those arrears, be construed as references to the date on which the rent or interest became due.