Results.
2,111 judgments found.
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| May 2025 |
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A sale of an exploration licence with express contractual discretion cannot be converted into a joint venture or be limited by an implied reasonable-time term.
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Contract law — characterization of transaction: sale v joint venture; implied terms — necessity, business efficacy and obviousness tests; contractual discretion — scope, good faith and limits; Net Smelter Return royalty entitlement contingent on commencement of mining; time of the essence — when express discretion exists; burden and particulars required to establish fraud in licence alteration.
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9 May 2025 |
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Joinder of an amicus curiae after judgment is improper without a pending appeal; amicus participation is governed by common law rather than party-joinder rules.
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Civil procedure — joinder of parties — amicus curiae — functus officio — joinder after judgment requires pending appeal or review — amici are not parties and should not be joined under party-joinder rules.
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9 May 2025 |
| April 2025 |
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Court refused to dismiss appeal where transcript-related delay was outside appellants' control and they acted diligently.
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Civil procedure — dismissal for want of prosecution (Order X, Rule 7) — discretion to dismiss — delay due to procurement of transcript — inordinate and inexcusable delay — requirement of prejudice or contumelious conduct.
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29 April 2025 |
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Court confirmed interim injunction to preserve status quo in land-title dispute and refused admission of fresh evidence.
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Civil procedure — Interim injunction pending appeal; preservation of status quo; admission of further evidence on appeal (Order 59 RSC; Ladd v Marshall); American Cyanamid principles; competing certificates of title in land dispute.
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25 April 2025 |
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Encroachment claim by a registered proprietor was not time-barred, but the registered caveat exceeded the appellant's proprietary interest.
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Land law — Encroachment by usage — Accrual of cause of action on subdivision — Statute of Limitations and registered title — Caveat scope and proprietary interest — Survey diagrams and title evidence.
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25 April 2025 |
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Alleged out‑of‑court settlement did not bind parties or nullify taxation of costs; application dismissed as vexatious.
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Settlement agreements — whether correspondence and acknowledgement constitute acceptance; Taxation of costs — whether nullified by alleged out‑of‑court settlement; Civil procedure — applicability of Order 14A RSC, Order 8 CAR and Order 33 RSC; Abuse of process — vexatious litigation; Functus officio doctrine.
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24 April 2025 |
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Application for leave to appeal dismissed: applicants failed to show public importance, prospects of success, or compelling reasons.
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Court of Appeal — leave to appeal to Supreme Court — Section 13(3) Court of Appeal Act — criteria: point of law of public importance, reasonable prospects of success, compelling reasons; Arbitration — Arbitration Act s.17(2)(b) — subject‑matter not arbitrable; Public policy — setting aside arbitral awards; Employment law — arbitrability of unfair discrimination claims under the Employment Code; Limits on arbitral tribunals — reliance on third‑party employment contracts and powers reserved to the court.
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16 April 2025 |
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An employer may not invoke a notice clause to evade disciplinary proceedings; courts can look behind termination to protect the respondent.
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'Employment law — termination — interplay between contractual notice clause and ongoing disciplinary proceedings; wrongful dismissal where employer abandons disciplinary process.'
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15 April 2025 |
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Court distinguishes wrongful and unfair dismissal, upholds finding of employer system failure, sets aside pension award, and declares dismissal unfair.
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Employment law — wrongful v unfair dismissal — distinction between procedural (wrongful) and substantive (unfair) inquiries; Evidence — probative value of admissions elicited in cross-examination; Employer liability — proximate cause of loss attributable to IT system failure, not employees; Damages — exceptional circumstances may justify awards beyond notice period; Pension entitlement — requires evidentiary proof.
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15 April 2025 |
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Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to grant stay absent prior application to the lower court; ex-parte stay discharged.
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Civil procedure — Jurisdiction of Court of Appeal to hear urgent/interlocutory applications — Requirement to first apply to lower court under Order 59 r.14 RSC — Ex-parte stay of execution — Discharge for want of jurisdiction — Enforcement of lower court judgments.
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11 April 2025 |
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Incorporation of a company precludes a partnership in the same name; suit against that non-existent firm dismissed.
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Partnership law — Formation by conduct — Whether an unsigned partnership agreement adopted by conduct can create a firm
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Company law — Effect of incorporation — Whether incorporation of a company precludes existence of a partnership under the same name
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Civil procedure — Capacity to sue — Whether an unincorporated firm (non‑legal entity) can be sued in its own name
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10 April 2025 |
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Leave to appeal refused: performance alone does not create legitimate expectation to renew a fixed‑term contract.
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Civil procedure — Leave to appeal to Supreme Court under s.13 CAA — requirement of point of law of public importance and real prospects of success; Employment law — legitimate expectation of renewal of fixed-term contract — assurance or employer conduct required; performance alone insufficient.
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10 April 2025 |
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Application to set aside taxation adjournment dismissed as filed out of time without leave, depriving Court of jurisdiction.
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Civil procedure — Preliminary objection — Jurisdiction to hear applications filed out of time; Reasonable time where rules silent — 14 days; Extension of time — Order 13 rule 3(2) — leave required after expiry; Procedural form requirements may be jurisdictional but were not decided.
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4 April 2025 |
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Applicants failed to show realistic prospects of success; leave to appeal the derivative-action ruling was denied with costs.
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Companies law — Derivative actions — Leave to commence/appeal — Companies Act s331(3) — Prospects of success at interlocutory stage — Review of interlocutory rulings — Procedural fairness (consideration of opposing documents) — Multiplicity of actions and costs.
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1 April 2025 |
| March 2025 |
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Court upheld entitlement to unpaid allowances despite board non-determination; appellate court refused to disturb factual findings.
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Employment law — allowances — interpretation of 'shall' and 'as determined by the Board' — accrued contractual benefits — facilitative imprest versus remunerative allowance — alleged transcription error in conditions of service — contra proferentum — appellate interference with factual findings — s.85A(d) ILRA discretionary awards.
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31 March 2025 |
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A purposive reading of Order 10 Rule 9(2) permits combined law-and-fact grounds if clearly stated; preliminary objection dismissed.
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Civil procedure — Appeals — Order 10 Rule 9(2) CAR — Grounds of appeal must be concise and specify points of law or fact — Purposive interpretation permits combined law-and-fact grounds where clear — Preliminary objection dismissed where grounds disclose issues and contain no argument or narrative; ex parte leave not set aside confers jurisdiction.
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27 March 2025 |
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Failure to exhaust internal disciplinary appeals does not automatically bar a court claim; non-exhaustion affects credibility, not jurisdiction.
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Industrial & Labour Relations Act s85(3) — jurisdiction — exhaustion of internal administrative/grievance channels — failure to exhaust does not automatically extinguish cause of action; internal appeal optional where policy uses "should"; non-exhaustion affects credibility/merits, not jurisdiction.
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26 March 2025 |
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Applicant must prove tainted property on a balance of probabilities; suspicion of foreign wrongdoing is insufficient.
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Forfeiture — civil (non‑conviction) forfeiture — burden of proof on public prosecutor — 'tainted property' must be proved on balance of probabilities — mere reasonable suspicion or unparticularised foreign investigations insufficient — Section 29, 30(b), 31 and 34 Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime Act.
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24 March 2025 |
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Court granted extension to file record and heads, holding late filing affected discretion not jurisdiction.
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Civil procedure — Extension of time — Order 13 Rule 3 CARs — Jurisdiction vs discretion — Late application within 21-day cushion — Transcript delay as justifiable cause — No inordinate delay (Birkett v James).
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11 March 2025 |
| February 2025 |
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Vesting order set aside where respondents failed to prove constructive trust or produce documents divesting the registered owner's title.
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Land law — Vesting orders; requirement of documentary basis for vesting under High Court Act; constructive trust — evidentiary burden; certificate of title protected by section 33 (conclusive evidence of ownership); appellate interference where trial findings are perverse or unsupported by evidence.
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27 February 2025 |
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A judgment was set aside because the court failed to consider duly filed heads of argument due to a registry error.
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Court of Appeal procedure — discretion under Court of Appeal Rules to proceed on filed processes — notice of hearing — right to be heard via filed heads of argument — registry administrative error — judgment set aside and rehearing ordered.
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27 February 2025 |
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Omission of documents from a record of appeal does not mandate dismissal; respondent must prove materiality and the court may allow supplementation.
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Civil procedure — Record of Appeal — omission of documents — Order 10 r 9(5)(h) CARs — materiality of evidence — burden on respondent to prove prejudice — discretionary remedy; supplementary record allowed.
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27 February 2025 |
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Appellants were not innocent purchasers; subdivisions created unlawfully within respondent's land rendered titles void ab initio.
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Property law — bona fide purchaser for value without notice — constructive notice and due diligence; Land law — unlawful creation of subdivisions within titled land; Public Roads Act — road reserve and prohibition of development; Invalidity of titles obtained from void subdivisions; Negligence of land allocation authorities and indemnity.
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26 February 2025 |
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An application for extension of time was dismissed for failure to obtain leave to file out of time and ignorance of the Rules.
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Civil procedure — extension of time — Order XIII Rule 3(1)–(3) Court of Appeal Rules — requirement to file within 21 days or obtain leave to file out of time — sub‑rule (3) read with sub‑rule (2) — ignorance of law not a defence — incompetence of application where no leave to file out of time shown.
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26 February 2025 |
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Appellant's account did not create reasonable doubt and diminished responsibility lacked medical support; appeal dismissed.
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Criminal law — Murder — Circumstantial evidence and admissions; burden of proof and 'reasonably possible' defence; diminished responsibility (s.12A Criminal Procedure Code) — requirement of abnormality of mind and medical evidence; onus on accused to adduce and call psychiatrist.
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26 February 2025 |
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Diminished responsibility requires medical evidence; epilepsy here did not establish abnormality of mind, appeal dismissed.
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Criminal law — Murder — Diminished responsibility (s.12A Penal Code) — Requirement of abnormality of mind supported by medical evidence — Epilepsy as neurological condition, not disease of the mind — Onus on accused to prove unsoundness of mind.
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26 February 2025 |
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Circumstantial evidence—utterances, recovered syringe, and toxicology—was sufficiently cogent to uphold the murder conviction; appeal dismissed.
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Criminal law — Circumstantial evidence — Cogency required to permit only inference of guilt; credibility and corroboration of related witnesses; recovery of syringe and toxicology as corroborative circumstantial proof.
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26 February 2025 |
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Whether stepchildren count as "children" under the Intestate Succession Act or only as dependants without formal adoption.
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Intestate succession — definition of "child" — "adopted child" requires formal legal adoption; stepchildren not automatic heirs — dependants entitled to 10% under s.5(d) — estate to be sold and proceeds distributed under ss.5 and 6.
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26 February 2025 |
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Seizure under a regularly issued execution of goods in a debtor’s possession is not wrongful; interpleader is the remedy.
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Execution law — writ of fieri facias — seizure of third‑party goods in possession of judgment debtor — interpleader (Order XLI rules 53–56) as remedy — defamation claims fail without particularised pleadings.
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26 February 2025 |
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Whether voluntary intoxication negated mens rea or amounted to mitigation in a murder conviction.
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Criminal law — Intoxication under Section 13 Penal Code — voluntary drunkenness not a defence absent incapacity to form intent; intoxication as mitigation must be shown by peculiar facts; mens rea for murder; appellate review of factual findings.
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26 February 2025 |
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Whether amended employment-related claims filed with leave outside the 90-day statutory period are statute-barred.
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Industrial and Labour Relations Act s85(3) — limitation period; pleadings — amendment of pleadings; leave to amend; new cause of action arising from same facts; jurisdiction to hear amended claims; remedy — remittal for trial.
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26 February 2025 |
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Continued service after contract expiry did not create renewal; no entitlement to a second vehicle; costs awarded to the appellant.
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Employment law — fixed-term contracts — clause excluding implied renewal; holding over/continued service entitles only to pro‑rata pay; contract interpretation and sanctity of contract; personal‑to‑holder vehicle entitlement; unjust enrichment; costs follow the event; Employment Code s53(3) (termination on leave) inapplicable where contract expired; plea/pleadings and raising unconscionability on appeal.
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26 February 2025 |
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Agency found: 2nd Appellant was agent of 1st Appellant, making 1st Appellant liable for undelivered fertilizer; chairman lacked privity.
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Agency — implied/apparent agency by conduct and admissions; privity of contract — non-party cannot recover under contract; indoor management (Turquand) rule — outsider entitled to presume internal authority; remedies — market value, interest, general damages and costs.
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26 February 2025 |
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A judgment debtor must ordinarily disclose income, assets and liabilities to justify payment by instalments; appeal dismissed.
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Civil procedure — Order XXXVI r.9 High Court Rules — payment of judgment by instalments — discretion and requirement of sufficient reason — ordinary requirement to disclose income, assets and liabilities — speculative purchase orders insufficient — enforcement of securities.
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25 February 2025 |
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Summary dismissal inappropriate where ACC restrictions raise triable issues of frustrated contracts, unpaid interest, and unjust enrichment.
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Anti‑Corruption Act (s.60) — effect of restriction/seizure notices on bank dealings; Cause of action — meaning and threshold for striking out; Civil procedure — Order 14A/Order 33 RSC summary disposal; Contract frustration and unjust enrichment — triable issues where funds allegedly transferred during restrictions.
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25 February 2025 |
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An interlocutory chambers ruling requires leave or renewal before a single judge; appeal was therefore incompetent.
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Interlocutory procedure — chambers order delivered in open court remains interlocutory — leave to appeal required; stay of proceedings is interlocutory and must be renewed before a single judge — failure to obtain leave or renew renders appeal incompetent.
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25 February 2025 |
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Interlocutory injunctions discharged in the High Court must be renewed before a single judge, not appealed; appeal dismissed for irregularity.
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Procedure — Court of Appeal — Interlocutory orders — Discharge of ex parte interim injunction — Renewal before a single judge, not appeal — Order X Rule 2(1) Court of Appeal Rules — Appeal dismissed for irregularity; costs awarded.
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25 February 2025 |
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Leave to appeal refused: proposed grounds raised factual issues, not points of law of public importance.
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Civil procedure — Leave to appeal to Supreme Court — s.13(3) Court of Appeal Act — point of law of public importance — findings of fact v. point of law — prospects of success — banking law — duty to act on instructions of authorised signatories — internet banking/viewing rights — requirement of evidential basis.
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25 February 2025 |
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The appellant's payment plan did not waive mandatory post-judgment interest; appeal dismissed with costs.
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Judgments Act s.2 — statutory post-judgment interest mandatory; distinction between contractual pre-judgment interest and post-judgment interest; payment plan versus forbearance; evidential weight of correspondence.
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25 February 2025 |
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Court upheld injunction preventing further selection or installation of a chief pending trial, though past selection could not be injuncted.
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Interlocutory injunctions — American Cyanamid principles — preservation of status quo — distinction between past selection and future installation/enthronement — customary succession disputes — irreparable harm and balance of convenience.
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24 February 2025 |
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Court granted injunction pending appeal to preserve the subject matter where dismissal left nothing to stay.
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Injunction pending appeal; stay of execution; where lower court dismisses action awarding no enforceable remedy there is nothing to stay; prospects of success; balance of convenience; preservation of status quo.
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24 February 2025 |
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Whether credit notes created a 15% discount and whether trial findings and contractual compound interest should be disturbed on appeal.
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Civil procedure — appellate review of trial findings — limited grounds for disturbance; burden of proof on balance of probabilities; contract interpretation — credit notes and discounts; contractual compounded interest — enforceability where expressly agreed; assessment of quantum before Registrar.
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24 February 2025 |
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Circumstantial evidence and post‑mortem findings upheld the appellant’s murder conviction; failure to call doctor caused no prejudice.
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Criminal law — circumstantial evidence — threshold for conviction; Post‑mortem evidence — need to call doctor; Accidental fall vs intentional harm; Consciousness of guilt — flight and inconsistent statements; Murder vs manslaughter.
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24 February 2025 |
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Appellants' selections were invalid for failing to follow customary succession procedures; Kaunda lineage to supply next chief.
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Customary succession — chieftainship rotation and lineage eligibility — historical ban/curse on lineage — procedural compliance in selection (representation, queen mothers, meetings) — discretionary use of assessors (s.34 High Court Act) — Cabinet Circular P.A.4/22 of 1972 may apply.
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24 February 2025 |
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No oral contract: managing director acted personally and payment went to the foreign supplier; appeal allowed and costs awarded to appellant.
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Contract law — Oral contracts — requirements of offer, acceptance, intention to create legal relations and consideration; Agency — principal–agent consent; Evidentiary proof — documentary evidence and translation; Burden of proof on balance of probabilities.
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24 February 2025 |
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Alleged extra-contractual obligations cannot ground breach where the written contract does not incorporate them.
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Contract law — written contract governs — extrinsic documents not admissible to vary terms; breach requires proof of contractual obligation
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Evidence — party alleging loss must plead and prove special damages. Commercial contracts — effluxion of time ends contract; courts must not rewrite agreements
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Device/configuration — evidence showed phones configured for bank VPN; delays in promotional materials/starter packs did not establish breach
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24 February 2025 |
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Recent possession and cogent circumstantial evidence supported convictions for murder and aggravated robbery; appeal dismissed.
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Criminal law — circumstantial evidence — recent possession doctrine — identification of recovered property — innocent receiver vs perpetrator — murder by ligature (malice aforethought) — aggravated robbery.
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21 February 2025 |
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Whether prosecution witnesses were suspect and the appellant's explanation probable; conviction and sentence upheld.
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Criminal law — Murder — Witness interest and corroboration — Credibility of eyewitnesses — Ballistic corroboration — Improbability of accused's version — Defences of self-defence, provocation and accident unavailable where accused denies firing.
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21 February 2025 |
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Circumstantial evidence (child taken into accused’s house, semen observed, medical report) sufficiently established guilt; appeal dismissed.
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Criminal law — Defilement — Circumstantial evidence — Requirement that inculpatory facts be incompatible with innocence — Single identifying witness — Corroboration where prosecutrix does not testify — Resolution of lingering doubt.
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21 February 2025 |
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Appeal allowed: no obligation to release titles; damages award set aside for lack of evidence.
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Civil procedure; mortgages and security — interpretation of consent settlement orders — obligation to release securities — appellate review of factual findings — proof of damages and requirement to substantiate special/unliquidated loss.
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21 February 2025 |