Supreme Court of Zambia - 1983

19 judgments
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Results. 19 judgments found.

19 judgments
December 1983
Drunkenness and accident defenses failed where appellant cocked a rifle, fired foreseeably, and the deceased had not provoked him.
  • Criminal law — Intoxication and formation of intent under Penal Code s.13(4); Accident as defence under Penal Code s.9(1) — subjective foresight and objective foreseeability; Provocation — available only where deceased was provoker; Application of proviso to s.15(1) Supreme Court Act to uphold conviction
28 December 1983
No written police detention order required; unlawful place of custody gives damages; past acts can justify detention if future apprehension stated.
  • Constitutional law — detention under Preservation of Public Security Regulations — no written police order required under reg.33(6); lawfulness of place of detention; past activities as basis for apprehension; vagueness test for grounds; validity of 1964 amendment regulations; courts not to adjudicate reasonableness of Presidential emergency declaration
21 December 1983
Amendment cannot introduce a new cause of action; an amendment reserving ownership transformed the sale into a hire-purchase, and non-compliance with s.25 rendered the seizure a conversion.
  • Civil procedure — limits of Order 18 amendments; Contract classification — when amendments convert a sale into a hire-purchase; Hire-Purchase Act s.25 non-compliance — sale deemed on credit without reservation of ownership; Conversion/trespass liability for seizure and sale; Estoppel/acquiescence — mere presence at auction insufficient to establish acquiescence
13 December 1983
November 1983
Court upheld repatriation and detention; courts may try persons once within jurisdiction and Secretary to the Cabinet may furnish detention grounds.
  • Criminal law — arrest abroad and repatriation; Extradition — absence of operative treaty/statutory order; Jurisdiction — courts may try persons brought into jurisdiction notwithstanding manner of apprehension; Constitutional law — Article 27(1)(a) grounds for detention may be furnished by subordinate executive officer under Article 53(1)
29 November 1983
Place of performance was Zambia; Zambian courts had jurisdiction and appeal was allowed.
  • Contract law — Place of performance — Jurisdiction; Courts — Place of performance determines jurisdiction; Order 10 Rule 15 High Court Rules; Submission to jurisdiction; Exchange control not fatal to jurisdiction
17 November 1983
September 1983
Recent possession can infer participation; armed-robbery convictions require proof of real firearms; sentencing balances deterrence and leniency.
  • Criminal law — recent possession as inference of participation in robbery; armed aggravated robbery — necessity of proof that weapons were firearms; sentencing — deterrence for impersonating police/army balanced with first-offender leniency
12 September 1983
August 1983
An officer of an unincorporated party cannot be sued by office title; must be named as representative and show common interest.
  • Civil procedure — Parties — Unincorporated body — Representative capacity — Order XIV r.1 and r.3 — Misdescription of defendant — Requirement of community of interest in representative suits — Defamation context
30 August 1983
An adequate apology and a reliable source substantially mitigate libel damages in favour of the applicant.
  • Defamation — assessment of damages — seriousness of imputations and actual vs potential harm; republication from a named reliable source — duty to verify and effect on quantum; adequate apology/retraction as substantial mitigating factor
16 August 1983
July 1983
Interlocutory injunction discharged: tactical procedural steps lawful; non-disclosure must be material; damages adequate here, so injunction inappropriate.
  • Civil procedure — appeals under s.24(1)(e) Supreme Court Act — interlocutory leave; abuse of process — tactical procedural advantage not per se abuse; ex parte injunction — material non-disclosure required to set aside; interlocutory injunctions — clear right and irreparable injury required; damages adequate defeats injunction
28 July 1983
Insufficient evidence that police breached duty to fingerprint; allegedly stolen goods need not be exhibits unless identity disputed; related offences merit concurrent sentences.
  • Evidence — identification; Exhibits — no mandatory requirement to exhibit alleged stolen articles unless identity/ownership disputed; Fingerprints — duty to test arises only if surface is shown to be receptive; Sentencing — related series of offences constitute a course of conduct and ordinarily attract concurrent sentences
12 July 1983
May 1983
Exemplary damages must be pleaded; future loss awards must deduct alternative earnings and tax; matter remitted for reassessment and interest.
  • Damages — exemplary damages require specific pleading; assessment of future loss must deduct earnings from alternative employment and account for income tax; interest payable under Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act s.4; single witness evidence may suffice for assessing prospective earnings; duty to mitigate
22 May 1983
March 1983
Whether an unpleaded resignation may be considered and whether suspension prevents a valid unilateral resignation.
  • Civil procedure — Pleadings and amendments (Order 18) — limits of recasting vs introducing new causes; Resignation — unilateral termination of contract of personal service; Suspension — does not bar resignation; Equitable relief — courts cannot force an employee to remain in employment.
24 March 1983
Suspension does not prevent resignation; an employee's unilateral resignation generally terminates employment without employer acceptance.
  • Civil procedure — Pleadings and Order 18 — limits on raising or deciding unpleaded issues; Employment law — suspension does not bar resignation; resignation unilaterally terminates personal service contract; courts cannot force employee to remain in employment
23 March 1983
A bank owes no duty to the general public to advertise stolen cheque books and bears no negligent-loss liability to the public.
  • Banking law — Cheques — Alleged duty to advertise loss/theft of cheque book — No duty to the public; Negligence — Liability for negligent loss of cheque book — No liability to public at large absent privity
22 March 1983
February 1983
Court must call essential witnesses under s.149 CPC; failure/misdirection reduced murder conviction to manslaughter.
  • Evidence — Court's power to call witnesses under s.149 Criminal Procedure Code — discretionary but mandatory if witness's evidence is essential — limits on calling witnesses to avoid remedying prosecution defects or discrediting on collateral matters — provocation defence; misdirection; conviction substituted for manslaughter.
15 February 1983
Trial courts must, under section 149 C.P.C., call or recall witnesses when their evidence is essential to just decision; murder conviction reduced to manslaughter.
14 February 1983
Section 336 cannot be used to treat a death‑sentenced convict as unconvicted; s.18(1)(b) already stays execution pending appeal.
  • Criminal procedure — Capital offence — Section 336 Criminal Procedure Code read as whole — Treatment as unconvicted prisoner not available for death sentences; Stay of execution unnecessary where s.18(1)(b) Supreme Court Act applies; Notice of appeal may be filed after conviction but before sentence; s.123(5) limits trial court from hearing s.336 applications absent notice of appeal; s.22 Supreme Court Act jurisdiction requires trial court refusal under s.336
3 February 1983
January 1983
Fresh evidence justified re-assessment of damages; future care needs evidence, earnings and interest assessed on principled bases.
  • Civil procedure — Appeal on damages — Fresh evidence permits de novo re-assessment; Damages — future care requires cogent evidence; future medical expenses allowable; pain and suffering and loss of amenities adjustable for spouse's pre-trial loss of earnings; loss of earnings — multiplicand to reflect prospective earnings less tax, multiplier to reflect contingencies; pre-judgment interest discretionary under s.4 Law Reform Act
4 January 1983
Whether a lawyer may attend a client's drunkenness examination and when appellate interference is warranted for unbalanced factual findings.
  • Criminal procedure/roads law — attendance at medical examination for drunkenness — police entitled to attend; counsel has no absolute right to be present; appellate interference where trial judge gives unbalanced evaluation of evidence
4 January 1983