Court of Appeal of Zambia - 2025 June

22 judgments
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Results. 22 judgments found.

22 judgments
June 2025
An unauthenticated foreign share sale agreement is invalid in Zambia and cannot be compelled produced against non-parties.
  • Authentication of Documents Act — foreign share sale agreement — unauthenticated foreign document invalid for use in Zambia; privity of contract — parties not bound — subpoena duces tecum; estoppel cannot validate unauthenticated statutory defect; corporate personality — piercing the veil requires strong evidence.
30 June 2025
Variation was valid despite earlier system entries; interest cap under s110(1)(b) was not breached and appeal dismissed.
  • Banking law — variation of loan facilities — requirements of offer, acceptance and consideration — effect of borrower’s subsequent acceptance — Banking and Financial Services Act s110(1)(b) — definition and timing of non-performing loan and interest capping.
27 June 2025
A principal who takes over an agent’s contract and admits payments is liable despite privity of contract.
  • Contract law — Road carriage agreement — Existence of single contract — Whether third party took over contract obligations
  • Agency — Principal and agent — Agent acting for principal — Principal’s liability where it takes over agent’s contractual obligations
  • Civil procedure — Judgment on admission — Effect of admission and part‑payments as evidence of assumption of obligation
27 June 2025
Appellants failed to show trial court misapplied evidence; special resolutions were void and PACRA register reversal upheld.
  • Companies law — membership and quorum — validity of special resolutions — company register at PACRA as prima facie evidence of title — challenges to findings of fact — standard for appellate interference (perverse/misapprehension) — forgery allegations and handwriting evidence — arbitration clause in articles not invoked via statutory procedure.
26 June 2025
A stay pending leave to appeal requires clear prospects of success and irreparable harm; ex parte stay discharged.
  • Stay of execution pending appeal — discretionary remedy — prospect of success and irreparable harm required — appeal does not automatically stay execution — ex parte stay discharged.
24 June 2025
Appellant failed to prove copyright infringement; Court of Appeal set aside damages and upheld the cross-appeal.
  • Copyright law — copyright ownership and commissioned works — burden of proof in infringement actions; evidentiary sufficiency and expunged documents; s.26 delivery-up remedies; s.25(4) reasonable belief defence; damages for infringement, conversion and passing off.
20 June 2025
Appellant’s dispatch documents shifted the evidential burden; respondent failed to prove non-receipt and no contractual duty to transport existed.
  • Contract law — sale of goods — terms implied by practice: release on production of documents; Burden of proof — evidential burden may shift where defendant adduces positive evidence; Evidence — delivery notes, invoices and weighbridge slips can prove dispatch; Civil procedure — appeal irregularity dismissed where application made out of time.
20 June 2025
A court lacking jurisdiction on the merits may nonetheless award costs; such discretion must be exercised judicially.
  • Jurisdiction — lack of jurisdiction as to merits does not preclude court from awarding costs; costs lie in judicial discretion; customary land disputes and Local Courts' original jurisdiction.
18 June 2025
Recognition evidence by familiar witnesses and cogent circumstantial facts upheld murder convictions despite no identification parade.
  • Criminal law — Identification/recognition evidence — reliability in poor lighting; absence of identification parade not fatal where witnesses know accused — Circumstantial evidence — cogency and exclusion of reasonable hypothesis — Alibi as afterthought.
17 June 2025
Appeal dismissed: trial judgment sufficient despite missing pages; witnesses and medical evidence credible; 18‑month custodial sentence upheld.
  • Criminal law — assault occasioning actual bodily harm — credibility of prosecution witnesses — admissibility and sufficiency of medical report where author testifies — missing trial record — appellate review — sentence appropriateness and aggravating factor of acting with impunity in police premises.
17 June 2025
The respondents’ procurement directive and suppliers' conduct constituted an anti-competitive agreement in breach of Section 8; fines upheld.
  • Competition law — Restrictive business practices — Section 8 (prohibition of agreements, decisions or concerted practices with object or effect of preventing, restricting or distorting competition) — inference of concurrence of wills from circumstantial evidence — vertical arrangement vs horizontal agreement — Section 16 (abuse of dominance) — penalties under Section 58 — appealability of costs rulings.
17 June 2025
Court dismissed leave to appeal and stay applications due to res judicata and procedural irregularity in bypassing the High Court.
  • Civil procedure — leave to appeal — stay of proceedings — requirement to first apply to the High Court (Order 13 Rule 12 CAR) — res judicata — arbitration clause — notice of discontinuance — derivative action — Arbitration Act.
17 June 2025
Appellate court confined dispute to pleadings, ordered replacement of four admitted beacons and rejected unproven claims and damages.
  • Civil procedure — function of pleadings; burden of proof — party who alleges must prove; land boundaries — replacement of beacons where removal admitted; Surveyor General's role in restoring beacons; caveat — damages must be pleaded and proved; costs — discretionary, appeal costs limited to out-of-pocket expenses.
11 June 2025
Applicant’s out-of-time restoration under wrong Rule was incompetent; application dismissed with costs.
  • Civil procedure — Restoration of matters struck off active cause list — Order 10/19(2) CAR applicable to appeals at hearing, not interlocutory applications; failure to comply with 'unless' order and absence of leave to extend time renders restoration application incompetent.
11 June 2025
Vendor's advocates holding purchase monies as stakeholders may be liable to refund when a conveyancing transaction fails.
  • Conveyancing — vendor's advocate as stakeholder — LAZ General Conditions of Sale — stakeholder owes fiduciary duties to both parties — cause of action against advocate for failure to refund deposit — misjoinder and costs.
11 June 2025
Court dismissed appeal, holding no strict 90‑day limit for leave under section 85(3) and that respondent’s reasons were cogent.
  • Industrial and labour law — extension of time under section 85(3) ILRA — no prescribed time limit for leave applications — sufficiency of reasons for delay; Civil procedure — ex parte applications and natural justice — procedural irregularity that would not affect outcome; Appeal to Judge in chambers — rehearing and burden of proof; Amicable settlement attempts and financial constraints as cogent reasons for extension of time.
9 June 2025
A section 10 arbitration application may be brought at any stage; a broadly drafted pension fund arbitration clause survives post-employment and mandates referral to arbitration.
  • Arbitration Act s.10 — stay and refer to arbitration; pension trust deed arbitration clause; survivability of arbitration clauses post-employment; High Court (Amendment) Rules 2020 — appearance and defence not prerequisite to s.10 application; ejusdem generis and clause construction; arbitrability of constitutional/statutory claims; preliminary objection practice.
6 June 2025
An application for special leave to review ought to be heard by the original judge; costs are inappropriate where proceedings are merely stayed under section 10.
  • Arbitration Act s10 — stay and referral to arbitration; High Court Rules Order 39 — special leave to review; jurisdiction — review before the judge who made impugned ruling; costs — award inappropriate where proceedings are stayed under section 10.
6 June 2025
Zambian courts had jurisdiction over domestic guarantee agreements; respondent had locus standi; arbitration clause in main subcontract inapplicable.
  • Arbitration clause — foreign jurisdiction not an automatic ouster; forum conveniens considerations; Separate guarantee agreements — independent from main subcontract; Locus standi — beneficiary party under guarantees entitled to sue; Specific performance of guarantees; Costs awarded to successful party.
6 June 2025
Writ under consent judgment upheld; distress was lawful but any excess value must be assessed and refunded with interest.
  • Enforcement of consent judgment — Writ of possession issued under consent order — Requirement for leave/notice (Order 45 RSC/Order 88 RSC) — Joinder of occupier — Warrant of distress for unpaid rent — Excessive distress and assessment of proceeds — Right of first refusal and effect of tenant's default — Damages for wrongful execution.
6 June 2025
5 June 2025
Oral orders take effect on delivery; absent fresh evidence, review refused and tribunal had jurisdiction to hear the late-filed complaint.
  • Civil procedure — Review (Order 39 R.1) — fresh material evidence threshold; Effect of oral pronouncement — judgment/order takes effect on delivery; Industrial and Labour Relations Act s.85(3) — leave to file out of time; Vacation filings — leave authorises filing during vacation; Jurisdiction — defects in originating process and timing of leave
5 June 2025