Supreme Court of Zambia - 1993 August

10 judgments
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Results. 10 judgments found.

10 judgments
August 1993
An unwritten option to purchase cannot create an enforceable interest supporting a caveat under section 76.
  • Lands Deeds Registry Act s76 — caveat — option to purchase — enforceable interest in land — Statute of Frauds writing requirement — audi alteram partem — Registrar’s procedure — illegitimacy of caveat based on unwritten option.
31 August 1993
Court dismissed challenge to ministerial appointments, holding morality-based disqualification cannot be read into the Constitution; review limited to express provisions.
  • Constitutional law — Presidential appointments — Article 44(1) (dignity and leadership) — Judicial review of executive discretion — Moral unsuitability not an implied constitutional disqualification — Tribunal report not equivalent to criminal conviction — Declaratory relief requires interested parties to be joined — Locus standi to bring constitutional claims.
31 August 1993
General order 179 grants discretionary ex gratia authority, not a contractual right to government-funded overseas medical treatment.
  • Employment contract — Conditions of service — General Order 179 — Discretionary ex gratia power to authorise overseas specialist treatment — 'May' denotes no contractual entitlement — Prior formal authorisation required for reimbursement
30 August 1993
General Order permitting overseas medical treatment is discretionary; no reimbursement without prior governmental authorisation.
  • Employment law; General Orders as contractual terms; interpretation of discretionary language ("may", "exceptional circumstances"); requirement of prior authorisation for overseas medical expenses; ex gratia payments; no automatic entitlement to reimbursement
30 August 1993
A third‑party custodian not party to custody arrangements cannot be held in contempt where an appeal is pending.
  • Contempt of court — custody of seized property pending appeal — liability of third‑party custodian not party to custody arrangements — pending appeal precluding contempt finding.
26 August 1993
Contradictory timelines, an uncorroborated interested witness, and no evidence linking the accused to the weapon required acquittal.
  • Criminal law — murder — contradictions in witness timelines; interested (possibly biased) witness requiring corroboration; insufficiency of evidence linking accused to weapon; misdirection on case to answer.
24 August 1993
Conviction for murder upheld; death sentence set aside and replaced by 15 years' imprisonment due to witchcraft-belief mitigation.
  • Criminal law — murder — credibility of eyewitnesses — causation without post-mortem — self-defence and provocation not established — mitigation: belief in witchcraft under Section 201 of Act 3 of 1990 — substitution of death sentence.
24 August 1993
Absence of an identification parade does not invalidate identification where complainant had ample opportunity and recovery of stolen property corroborates.
  • Criminal law — Aggravated robbery — Identification evidence — Absence of identification parade — Immediate identification and contemporaneous possession of stolen property as corroboration — Sentence severity — 18 years imprisonment with hard labour upheld.
24 August 1993
Compound interest on damages is prohibited by statute; injured party awarded higher reconstruction damages with 14% simple interest.
  • Property law — damages for vandalised mortgaged property; statutory prohibition on compound interest (Law Reform (Misc.) Act Cap. 74); interest on judgments — simple interest appropriate; limits on a registrar’s power to amend/review own assessment
19 August 1993
Where a landlord proves a statutory ground to oppose a new tenancy, granting a two‑year tenancy defeats the statute; s.11(2) is properly construed as a five‑year rule.
  • Landlord and tenant law — Landlord and Tenant (Business Premises) Act (Cap 440) — Section 11(1)(f) and (g) — Section 11(2) five‑year rule — security of tenure — proper remedy where landlord succeeds in opposing grant of new tenancy — setting rent consistent with valuation — costs follow event.
5 August 1993