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Citation
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Judgment date
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| December 1998 |
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An unregistered collective agreement has no legal force; Ministerial approval is required before enforcement.
Labour law – Industrial and Labour Relations Act – Registration and legal effect of collective agreements – Ministerial approval required – Labour Commissioner's role – Wage freeze and enforceability.
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31 December 1998 |
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Whether payrolls or bank changes varied written salary terms and whether a negotiated final settlement barred further allowance claims.
Employment contract interpretation – salary clause specifying 70% through Bank of Zambia – payment method and currency; variation by payroll; final settlement extinguishing post-contract claims; statutory provident fund claims against employer.
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29 December 1998 |
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2 December 1998 |
| November 1998 |
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A written offer with essential terms and deposit formed a binding sale; time was not of the essence and specific performance was granted; intervening purchaser had constructive notice.
Contract Law – Statute of Frauds: writing or memorandum sufficient if it contains material terms; Time – when time is of the essence; Specific performance – preferred remedy for land; Bona fide purchaser – constructive notice from tenant's possession defeats purchaser without notice.
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30 November 1998 |
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Court upheld order for re‑valuation and accounting of sold mortgaged properties and stayed execution pending accounting.
Mortgagee’s duty to obtain best possible price – re‑valuation of sold mortgaged properties at date of sale permissible – retrospective valuation allowed (deduct improvements) – account of sale and stay of execution where mortgagee failed to account.
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25 November 1998 |
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Section 30(1) requires elections but permits directory/procedural flexibility; administration-proposed procedure accepted by staff does not void election.
University Act s.30(1) – Election of Deans/Directors – requirement to hold elections mandatory but procedural form directory; Mandatory versus directory statutory provisions; Declaratory relief discretionary; Validity of election where staff acquiesce to administrative procedure.
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24 November 1998 |
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A court should not bar the applicant from representing an accused merely because the applicant may be called as a witness; withdrawal is desirable, not mandatory.
Criminal procedure – advocate as witness – statements at the bar are not evidence – presence in court does not automatically disqualify a witness – desirability (not illegality) of withdrawal where counsel may be called as witness – Order 5 High Court Rules applies to civil, not criminal, proceedings.
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17 November 1998 |
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Whether the respondent met constitutional citizenship/parentage qualifications and whether electoral flaws vitiated the presidential election.
Constitutional law – Presidential election – candidate qualifications (citizenship and parents) – acquisition of citizenship at independence; Article 41(2) – "full bench" defined; Legal ethics – ministers as counsel; Standard of proof – high in national election petitions; Electoral law – treating, bribery allegations, irregularities and systemic flaws (duplicate NRCs, register errors) – insufficiency to vitiate nationwide result.
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9 November 1998 |
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Resignation not set aside where forged board minute justified potential summary dismissal; no pleaded claim for emoluments or shares.
Employment law – resignation alleged to be induced by duress – forged/cooked board minute – misconduct justifying summary dismissal – burden of proof on employee to establish coercion – no pleaded claim for withheld emoluments or shares.
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5 November 1998 |
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Conviction upheld where possession of recently stolen property corroborated identification despite potentially interested witness.
Criminal law – Aggravated robbery – Identification evidence – Witness with possible interest/accomplice – Corroboration by possession of recently stolen property – Mandatory minimum sentence.
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5 November 1998 |
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Provocation insufficient to reduce murder but may mitigate sentence; multiple aggravated robberies with severe injury justify harsher than minimum sentence.
Refusal of provocation defence where violence is disproportionate; extenuating circumstances under Section 202(a)&(b) mitigate sentence; sentencing: back-dating custody, mandatory minimums, multiple offences and severe injury justify increased sentence
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3 November 1998 |
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Trust for purchaser who paid purchase money but had title registered in another’s name held lawful under s.4(i); transfer ordered.
Trusts Restriction Act — s.3(c) prohibition on dispositions vesting property in possession at a future date — s.4(i) exception for trusts terminable at beneficiary's will — resulting/constructive trust where purchaser funds purchase but title taken in another's name — equity will not permit illegality to be used as instrument of fraud.
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2 November 1998 |
| October 1998 |
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Whether the court should vary its judgment to deem the applicants retrenched from the judgment date rather than redundancy date.
Civil procedure – Variation of judgment – Rule 78 – correction of alleged slip or omission – whether effective date of retrenchment may be altered; Employment law – unlawful redundancy – legal effect of null and void redundancy and entitlement to damages; Unjust enrichment considered in varying judgments.
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30 October 1998 |
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A late, five‑year challenge to the Court's judgment on alleged non‑party status was frivolous and dismissed with costs.
Appeal – parties – joinder by leave to appeal – validity of appeal where appellant was not party in lower court; Review of court's own judgment – rarity and rule 78; Abuse of process – late challenge to final judgment; Costs against counsel for frivolous motion.
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30 October 1998 |
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Applicant summarily dismissed unlawfully; six months’ pay upheld and damages for distress increased to K2,000,000.
Employment law – wrongful/summary dismissal – fixed-term contract without termination clause – reasonable notice in lieu (six months) – duty to mitigate – damages for mental distress increased for inflation and precedent – interest discretionary.
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30 October 1998 |
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Defamation award reduced due to limited publication, lack of evidential production, and inadequate factual findings.
Defamation — assessment of damages — broadcast in vernacular, single late‑night transmission, anonymous letter not produced — failure to make specific factual findings — appellate reduction of excessive award.
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30 October 1998 |
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A director’s formation of a competing company can justify an interim injunction to protect the applicant’s operations pending trial.
Company law – interim injunction – director/shareholder forming competing company – conflict of interest – alleged interference with corporate contracts – relevance of section 216 Companies Act questioned but not decisive.
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27 October 1998 |
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Appellate court refuses to overturn conviction where trial judge's credibility findings were reasonable and well‑reasoned.
Criminal law – aggravated robbery – credibility findings – appellate review standards (NKHATA; RISBEY) – when appellate court may interfere with trial judge’s factual findings – fabricated defence story – demeanour evidence.
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6 October 1998 |
| September 1998 |
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Appeal over awards for a child's wrongful death: life-expectancy award reduced for unreasonableness; funeral costs upheld.
Damages — assessment of loss of expectation of life for a child — quantum and reasonableness — judicial notice of inflation — special damages for funeral expenses assessed without receipts where evidence not controverted.
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10 September 1998 |
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The plaintiff entitled to refund and damages for breach; conversion damages cannot be added; foreign-currency reconversion disallowed.
Sale of Goods Act – seller's failure to deliver – measure of damages for breach (difference between contract price and market price at time goods should have been delivered); Conversion – normal measure market value at time of conversion; damages for breach cannot be combined with conversion damages for same goods; Kwacha-denominated awards must not be hedged by reconverting via past foreign-currency rates; long delay and interest (100% p.a. simple) considerations.
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3 September 1998 |
| August 1998 |
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Appellate intervention requires a 'sense of shock'; guilty plea upheld; trafficking sentence reduced to two years concurrent.
Criminal law – Plea of guilty – Pleas entered with legal representation – Validity and withdrawal; Trafficking in drugs – Statutory quantity as aggravation; Sentencing – Appellate interference only where sentence evokes 'sense of shock' or is wrong in principle; Concurrent sentences; Elements of offence and obligation to explain charges.
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25 August 1998 |
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Court upheld aggravated robbery convictions based on credible eyewitness identification and apology, affirming the mandatory 15-year sentence.
Criminal law – Aggravated robbery – Identification evidence and credibility – No identification parade – Apology/confession at police station as corroboration – Mandatory minimum sentence upheld.
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11 August 1998 |
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Directors may sue in the company's name against a receiver who is the wrongdoer or neglects to act.
Company law — Receivership — Receiver's fiduciary duty and liability — Locus standi of company under receivership — Exceptions permitting directors/shareholders to sue in company's name when receiver is wrongdoer or neglects to act.
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3 August 1998 |
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Whether retrenchees’ termination payments in lieu of notice must be computed using salary increases effective during the notice period.
Employment law – retrenchment/early retirement – payment in lieu of notice – whether payment effects immediate termination – effect of subsequent salary increase during notice period – contractual interpretation (accommodation clause).
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3 August 1998 |
| July 1998 |
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Importation under section 7 is not a cognisable offence and is bailable; Supreme Court cannot grant bail absent an appeal from conviction.
Criminal law – Bail – Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act – Distinction between importation (s.7) and trafficking (s.6) – Whether importation is cognisable and non-bailable – Appellate court’s lack of power to grant bail absent appeal from conviction.
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27 July 1998 |
| June 1998 |
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An appellant's failure to comply with an 'unless' order and unexplained delay precludes setting aside automatic dismissal.
Civil procedure – Appeal – Failure to lodge record of appeal within time – 'Unless' order – Automatic dismissal – Relief only in very exceptional circumstances – Inordinate delay – Strict compliance with procedural time limits.
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2 June 1998 |
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Whether consolidated salary increases were valid where management paid converted perquisites to employees as instructed.
Company law – authority and holding out – Companies Act ss.23–25 – employer bound by acts of representative; Employment law – salary consolidation and conversion of in-kind perquisites into allowances; Evidence – payslips and auditors’ records establishing payment; Claim for withheld differences – merits.
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2 June 1998 |
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The court increased the applicant’s sentence for multiple aggravated robberies involving severe injury and backdated it to arrest.
Criminal law – Aggravated robbery – Sentencing – Credit for time in custody and back-dating sentences – Multiple offences and serious bodily injury (axing) as aggravating factors – Appropriateness of imposing statutory minimum sentence.
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2 June 1998 |
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Court increased sentence for multiple aggravated robberies with severe injury and back-dated it to the arrest date.
Criminal law — Aggravated robbery — Mandatory minimum sentence — Multiple offences and serious injury as aggravating factors — Back-dating sentence to date of arrest.
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2 June 1998 |
| April 1998 |
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Committal for breaching an injunction requires a written notice endorsed with the penal notice; mere knowledge is insufficient.
Civil procedure – Contempt/committal for breaching an injunction – Requirement of penal notice under Order 45 Rule 7(4) – Note to Rule 7(7) applies only where insufficient time to prepare written notice – Mere knowledge of injunction insufficient if written notice lacks penal endorsement.
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29 April 1998 |
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Whether money held in an advocate's client account earns interest and whether an advocate is liable when the bank collapses.
Banking law – clients' account – whether money in a client's account earns interest; money had and received – remedy for recovery of client funds; advocates' liability where bank holding client funds is liquidated; costs and interest awards.
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14 April 1998 |
| March 1998 |
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The appellant bank was held liable for failing to insure the respondent's imported machinery in transit; appeal dismissed.
Contract/loan security – Interpretation of insurance clause – Duty to insure goods in transit – Effect of retained insurance funds (US$2,500) – C.&F. vs C.I.F. invoice not determinative – Damages for loss of business.
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19 March 1998 |
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Circumstantial evidence, including escape from custody, upheld the murder conviction and confirmed the death sentence.
Criminal law – Murder – Circumstantial evidence – Escape from custody as relevant inference – Proof beyond reasonable doubt – Credibility and preference of witnesses.
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3 March 1998 |
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3 March 1998 |
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Share purchase indemnities between shareholders do not defeat a third‑party creditor's claim; company remains a distinct legal person.
Company law – separate legal personality of a company – corporate liabilities remain enforceable despite change of shareholders – share purchase agreement indemnities do not defeat third‑party creditors’ claims – joinder of unrelated third parties and amendment to raise shareholder indemnities refused.
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2 March 1998 |
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A Registrar lacks power under Order 39 to review his own decision; an assessment review was unjustified.
Civil procedure – review – Order 39 High Court Rules – whether a Registrar may review his own decision – assessment of damages – competence of post-assessment review.
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2 March 1998 |
| February 1998 |
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Oral sale agreement enforced; valuation order reversed; mesne profits awarded from date of judgment; improper appellate documents expunged.
Contract law – oral contract for sale of land – specific performance; proprietary estoppel; remedy – valuation reversed in favour of contract terms; damages – mesne profits accrue from date owner's interest is extinguished (date of judgment); civil procedure – supplementary record expunged; cross-appeal amendments require leave.
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13 February 1998 |
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Court affirmed specific performance of a 1975 house sale, rejected foreign‑currency reconversion, and ordered interest and rates adjustments.
Specific performance – parallel proceedings and res judicata – measure of damages for defective title – monetary loss measured at time of breach – rejection of foreign‑currency reconversion of historic Kwacha value – award of interest and reimbursement of rates.
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9 February 1998 |
| January 1998 |
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Employer’s dismissal upheld where employee was heard and no breach of natural justice; damages limited to notice period.
Employment law – disciplinary proceedings and wrongful dismissal – rules of natural justice – attendance of HR officer at appeal – fresh evidence and right to be heard – measure of damages for wrongful dismissal limited to contractual notice period (Kamayoyo).
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30 January 1998 |
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Weak dock identification and conflicting witness testimony made robbery and attempted murder convictions unsafe, leading to conviction for receiving stolen goods.
Criminal law - Identification evidence - dock identification without parade; Circumstantial evidence - possession and recovery of stolen property; Misdirection by trial judge; Proviso in criminal appeals; Receiving stolen property - conviction and sentence.
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20 January 1998 |