Section 1: Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires "banker" includes a bank and any person acting as a banker under the Financial Institutions Act; "bill of exchange" means a bill of exchange as defined by the Bills of Exchange Act; "bill of exchange payable on demand" includes- (a) an order for the payment of any sum of money by a bill of exchange or promissory note, or for the delivery of any bill of exchange or promissory note in satisfaction of any sum of money, or for the payment of any sum of money out of any particular fund which may or may not be available, or upon any condition or contingency which may or may not be performed or happen; (b) an order for the payment of any sum of money; and (c) a letter of credit; "bill of lading" includes a "through bill of lading" but does not include a mate's receipt; "bond" includes- (a) an instrument by which a person obliges himself or herself to pay money to another, on condition that the obligation shall be void if a specified act is performed, or is not performed, as the case may be; (b) an instrument attested by a witness and not payable to order or bearer, by which a person obliges himself or herself to pay money to another; and (c) an attested instrument by which a person obliges himself or herself to deliver grain or other agricultural produce to another; "chargeable" means an instrument chargeable under this Act or any other law in force in Uganda when the instrument was executed or, where several persons executed the instrument at different times, first executed; "cheque" means a bill of exchange drawn on a specified banker and payable on demand; "citizen" means- (a) a natural person who is a citizen of a Partner State of the East African Community; (b) a company or body of persons incorporated under the laws of a Partner State of the East African Community in which at least fifty-one percent of the shares are held by a person who is a citizen of a Partner State of the East African Community; "Commissioner General" means the Commissioner General appointed under the Uganda Revenue Authority Act; "conveyance" includes a conveyance on sale and every instrument by which movable or immovable property is transferred during the lifetime of the person transferring and which is not otherwise specifically provided for by this Act; "conveyance on sale" includes every instrument and every decree or order of a court by which any property, or any estate or interest in any property, upon its sale is transferred to or vested in a purchaser, or any other person on behalf of the purchaser or by the direction of the purchaser; "currency point" has the value assigned to it in Schedule 1 to this Act; "debenture" has the meaning assigned to it in the Companies Act; "deed" includes an instrument which confers a right or passes an interest or gives a title or authority; "duly stamped", as applied to an instrument, means- (a) that the instrument bears an impressed stamp of the proper amount and that the stamp has been affixed or used in accordance with the law for the time being in force in Uganda; and (b) stamped in any manner prescribed by the Commissioner General; "executed" and "execution", used with reference to instruments, mean "signed" and "signature" respectively; "impressed stamp" includes- (a) labels affixed and impressed by the officer; (b) stamps embossed or engraved on stamped paper; and (c) stamps of any other manner prescribed by the Commissioner; "instrument" includes a document by which a right or liability is, or purports to be created, transferred, limited, extended, extinguished or recorded; "instrument of partition" means an instrument by which co-owners of any property divide or agree to divide the property in severalty and includes a final order for effecting a partition passed by any court and an award by an arbitrator directing a partition; "Islamic financial business" means financial business undertaken by a person that conforms to Shari'ah principles and includes- (a) the business of receiving property into profit sharing investment accounts or of managing such accounts; (b) any other business of a person which involves or is intended to involve the entry into one or more contracts under Shari'ah or otherwise carried out or purported to be carried out in accordance with Shari'ah principles including- (i) equity or partnership financing; (ii) lease-based financing; (iii) sale-based financing; (iv) currency exchange contracts; or (v) fee-based activity; (c) the purchase of bills of exchange, certificates of Islamic deposit or other negotiable instruments; (d) the acceptance or guarantee of any liability, obligation or duty of any person; and (e) the business of providing finance by all means including through the acquisition, disposal or leasing of assets or through the provision of services which have similar economic effect and are economically equivalent to any other financial business; "lease" has the meaning assigned to it under the Registration of Titles Act; "marketable security" means a security capable of being sold on a stock market; "mate's receipt" means a document signed by an officer of a vessel evidencing receipt of a document of a shipment on board the vessel not being a document of title and issued as an interim measure until a proper bill of lading can be issued; "mortgage deed" includes an instrument by which, for the purpose of securing money advanced, or to be advanced, by way of loan, or an existing or future debt, or the performance of an engagement, one person transfers, or creates, to, or in favour of, another, a right over or in respect of specified property; "officer" means a person whose right or duty it is to require the performance of or to perform, the acts referred to in this Act; "policy of insurance" includes- (a) an instrument by which one person, in consideration of a premium, engages to indemnify another person against loss, damage or liability arising from an unknown or contingent event; or (b) a life policy, and a policy insuring a person against accident or sickness, and any other personal insurance; "policy of sea insurance" or "sea policy"- (a) means any insurance made upon a ship or vessel, or upon the machinery, tackle or furniture of a ship or vessel, or upon goods, merchandise or property of any description on board of a ship or vessel, or upon the freight of, or any other interest which may be lawfully insured in, or relating to, a ship or vessel; (b) includes any insurance of goods, merchandise or property for transit which includes, not only a sea risk within the meaning of subparagraph (a), but also any other risk incidental to the transit insured from the commencement of the transit to the ultimate destination covered by the insurance; and (c) where any person, in consideration of any sum of money paid or to be paid for additional freight or otherwise, agrees to take upon himself or herself any risk attending goods, merchandise or property of any description while on board of any ship or vessel, or engages to indemnify the owner of any such goods, merchandise or property from any risk, loss or damage, the agreement or engagement shall be deemed to be a contract for sea insurance; "power of attorney" includes an instrument empowering a specified person to act for and in the name of the person executing the instrument; "promissory note" has the meaning assigned to it in the Bills of Exchange Act; "receipt" includes a note, memorandum or writing whether the note, memorandum or writing is or is not signed with the name of a person- (a) by which any money, or any bill of exchange, cheque or promissory note is acknowledged to have been received; (b) by which any other movable property is acknowledged to have been received in satisfaction of a debt; (c) by which a debt or demand, or any part of a debt or demand, is acknowledged to have been satisfied or discharged; or (d) which signifies or imports the acknowledgement; "Revenue Authority" means the Uganda Revenue Authority established under the Uganda Revenue Authority Act; "settlement" means a non-testamentary disposition in writing of movable or immovable property made- (a) in consideration of marriage; (b) for the purpose of distributing property of the settlor among his or her family or those for whom he or she desires to provide, or for the purpose of providing for some person dependent on him or her; or (c) for any religious or charitable purpose, and includes an agreement in writing to make such a disposition, and where any disposition has not been made in writing any instrument recording, whether by way of declaration of trust or otherwise, the terms of any such disposition; "takaful" means insurance business conducted in accordance with Shari'ah principles; "Tribunal" means the Tax Appeals Tribunal established under the Tax Appeals Tribunals Act.