The Commercial Case Law Index is a collection of judgments from African countries on topics relating to commercial legal practice. The collection aims to provide a snapshot of commercial legal practice in a country, rather than present solely traditionally "reportable" cases. The index currently covers 400 judgments from Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
Get started on finding judgments that are relevant to you by browsing the topic list on the left of the screen. Click the arrows next to the topic names to reveal a detailed list of sub-topics. Most judgments are accompanied by a short summary written by subject-matter expert postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town.
The respondent raised preliminary points against the application on the grounds that a valid and appropriate affidavit did not support the application according to the Civil Procedure Code, Cap 33 of the Revised Edition 2002 order XLIII rule 1. Further, that the application was incompetent for being omnibus.
The court considered whether wrongfully mentioning a person in the chamber of summons which has been sworn by another in support of the application is a fatal ailment. Further, whether the application is omnibus because it contained two applications, namely, for extension of time, if successful a stay of execution.
The court held that wrongfully mentioning a person in the chamber of summons in support of an application is trivial to warrant striking out the whole application. Further taking the course will be conforming to the spirit of the Constitution art 107A (2) (e). The court also held that the vision of the judiciary is to administer justice effectively. Therefore, it would not be inappropriate for courts of law to encourage a multiplicity of proceedings. More so, an application comprising of two or more applications which are interrelated is allowable at law.
The court found that striking out the application will amount to wasting of resources because the applicant would possibly come back later with the replacement of names in the application.
The court accordingly allowed the applicant to substitute the names in the chamber summons, rectify the names by hand with an initial beside the handwriting alteration.
The court considered an appeal from a High Court decision that dismissed an application to set aside part of a previous judgment. The broad circumstances related to a series of judgments that related to who was entitled to vacant possession of land. However, the time within which to lodge the appeal had lapsed. The court restated the position on what the court must consider when dealing with an application for the extension of time. Such an enquiry is three-pronged involving three questions namely: (1) establishing sufficient reasons for the court to extend the time to lodge the appeal; (2) whether the applicant is guilty or not of dilatory conduct; and (3) whether any injustice will result from the application not being granted.
The court held that because the matter in this case raised serious questions of law that need to be addressed, it would be in the interests of justice to extend the time to file their appeal.
The court also dealt with affidavits as evidence and provided that just because they were not duly endorsed, does not mean the court will reject them. Further, where it is alleged that part of an affidavit is false, a court can sever that part and rely on remaining paragraphs.