Results.
40 judgments found.
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| December 1998 |
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An unregistered collective agreement is unenforceable; Ministerial approval under section 71 is required before enforcement.
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Labour law — Industrial and Labour Relations Act — Collective agreements — Ministerial approval/registration under s71 required for legal effect — Labour Commissioner’s limited role — unenforceability of unregistered agreements — wage freeze implications
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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.
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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 accepted by deposit can form a binding land sale; time was not of the essence and later purchaser had notice.
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Contract law — Statute of Frauds: written note/memorandum sufficiency; land sale — specific performance appropriate remedy; time of essence — construction and notice required to make time essential; bona fide purchaser — constructive notice from tenant in 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.
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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.
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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.
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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 requirements and whether electoral defects voided the presidential election.
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Constitutional law — Presidential election — citizenship and parentage qualifications at independence; full bench composition; counsel (minister) appearance; standard of proof in constitutional election petitions; bribery/treating and electoral irregularities; systemic registration flaws
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Court reduced an excessive award for a child's loss of expectation of life and upheld the respondent's funeral expenses.
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Damages — loss of expectation of life for a child — assessment under Law Reform Act — judicial notice of inflation — adjustment of statutory awards; Special damages — funeral expenses — absence of receipts — Registrar’s reasonable estimate permissible; Default judgment — assessment hearing
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10 September 1998 |
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Whether contractual damages under the Sale of Goods Act can be doubled by separate conversion damages or foreign‑currency reconversion.
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Commercial law — Sale of Goods Act (s.51) — measure of damages for non‑delivery — buyer who paid in advance — difference between contract and market price; Tort of conversion — normal measure is market value at time of conversion; whether damages for breach can be coupled with conversion damages; currency reconversion and devaluation — rejection of foreign‑currency reconversion for Kwacha‑denominated contract
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3 September 1998 |
| August 1998 |
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Appellate interference warranted where sentence is wrong in principle; guilty plea by represented accused treated as unequivocal.
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Criminal law — Plea of guilty — When plea may be withdrawn — Legal representation and unequivocal admission; Trafficking — Statutory quantities as evidence of trafficking; Sentencing — Appellate interference only where sentence is wrong in principle or causes a sense of shock; concurrency for offences in same transaction
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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.
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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/shareholders may sue in the company’s name during receivership when the receiver is wrongdoing or neglects to protect company interests.
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Company law — Receiver — Legal status and duties of receiver — Receiver as fiduciary — Liability for misfeasance, gross negligence or fraud — Locus standi of company under receivership — When directors/shareholders may sue in company’s name
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3 August 1998 |
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Payment in lieu of notice did not effect immediate termination; retrenchment packages must reflect the 110% salary increase.
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Employment law — retrenchment/early retirement — calculation of packages — effect of payment in lieu of notice — whether termination is immediate or at end of notice period — accommodation clause relevant to construction of notice
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3 August 1998 |
| July 1998 |
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Importation of narcotic drugs is not cognisable and is bailable; Supreme Court cannot grant bail absent an appeal from conviction.
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Criminal law — Bail — Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act — Whether importation under Section 7 is cognisable and bailable — Distinction between importation (s.7) and trafficking (s.6) — 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Client account funds do not earn interest; appeal partly allowed as to interest and costs, principal recoverable.
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Banking law — Client (practitioner) accounts — Whether client account funds attract interest — Legal Practitioners Act s.58 — Money had and received — Advocates’ liability when bank in liquidation
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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.
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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.
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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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A company’s separate legal personality prevents shareholders’ or vendors’ indemnities from defeating a creditor’s claim against the company.
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Company law — separate legal personality — Salomon principle — corporate obligations to third-party creditors — share purchase agreement indemnities do not defeat creditor claims — third-party impleading
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2 March 1998 |
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Whether a registrar may review his own decision under Order 39 — court held he cannot and the assessment review was unjustified.
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Civil procedure — Review — Whether a Registrar has power under Order 39 to review his own decision — Assessment of damages by Deputy Registrar — Review by another Deputy Registrar — Review unjustified
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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.
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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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Specific performance affirmed; foreign-currency reconversion of historic Kwacha rejected; purchaser to reimburse rates and pay interest.
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Specific performance — Parallel proceedings and res judicata — Vendor delay and equity — Measure of damages for defective title — Rejection of foreign-currency reconversion to adjust historical Kwacha price — Interest and reimbursement adjustments
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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.
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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.
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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 |