RN Advocates

02/06/2022

19/03/2020

The Chief Justice of Uganda has suspended All court hearings and appearances for a period of 32 days with effect from 20th March 2020. -19

07/02/2020

https://lailasnews.com/overconfident-fake-lawyer-arrested-while-representing-clients-in-court/

A fake lawyer was apprehended in court while he was representing a client, and trying to secure a bail for the client. According to Ghana Crimes, the fake lawyer identified as, Iddrisu Yahaya, was looking all

23/12/2019

05/11/2019

"The tradition of wearing horsehair wigs, perukes, ‘a term derived from the French word perruque (weaving wig)’ and gowns by the judiciary predates the 15th Century. In the 14th Century, during the reign of King Edward III, the accepted costume for nobles who appeared before the Court of the king was the robe.

Later in the 17th Century, the gown was adopted together with the peruke (horsehair wig) as the formal apparel of judges and lawyers, a bid to differentiate the elite from the commoners.

Originally, judges were required to wear purple robes on ordinary days, and red robes in ceremonial instances and criminal matters with the possibility of a death sentence decision. After the death of the king, however, they were changed into mourning gowns of black, a change that was later adopted by all.

After half a century into the end of colonialism, courts in many parts of Africa still cling to this old English tradition. While the originators of the tradition have long abandoned it..."

Source:
https://face2faceafrica.com/article/malawi-court-suspends-wearing-of-colonial-wigs-and-gowns-as-temperatures-rise bclid=IwAR0cdgwxKzQweVlPZcOGFor6fsJQkd5HnjoJc1nuAY44l5lSYiUpkaF_bU0

Malawi’s constitutional court has suspended wearing wigs and robes by lawyers and judges in the courtroom. The court was forced to suspend the wearing of traditional white and black robes because of soaring temperatures. A former British protectorate, Malawi is among several African countries t...

27/08/2019

Here are some Highlights of the Commercial Court decision in Sudhir Ruparelia & Meera Investments vs Crane Bank Ltd (In Receivership) High Court Miscellanous. Application No. 320 of 2019:

1. When Bank of Uganda (BoU) placed Crane Bank in receivership, BoU became the Receiver.

2. As Receiver, BoU was in position to arrange for purchase of Crane Bank’s assets and assumption of liabilities by another financial institution.

3. As Receiver BoU could in the alternative sell Crane Bank’s assets.

4. BoU had 12 months within which to do any of the above.

5. Having been placed under Receivership Crane Bank achieved insulation against legal proceedings.

6. The Financial Institutions Act, 2004 does not provide a Financial Institution in receivership with a right to sue during the period of receivership.

7. By having insulated Crane Bank in receivership against suits, the framers of the Financial Institutions Act would not have enabled it to sue because suing expects responses and Counter suits.

8. In instances where suits against Crane Bank in Receivership were not allowed, there would be no legal basis to allow her to sue.

9. When Crane Bank in receivership filed Civil Suit No. 493 of 2017, it had no authority to do so.

10. Even if Crane Bank in receivership had power to sue, by the time the suit was filed Crane Bank in receivership had ceased to own any property as its liabilities and assets had been exhausted.

11. Receivership of Crane Bank was exhausted when all assets and liabilities of Crane Bank were transferred to DFCU Bank.

12. At the time of filing the case Crane Bank in receivership was not in existence its lifetime having been terminated when it was surrendered to DFCU Bank.

13. Crane Bank in receivership had no assets to claim, was already non-existent having lost everything when the Receiver transferred all her assets to DFCU bank and so there was nothing to sue for.

14. BoU as Receiver instructed lawyers to sue on behalf of Crane Bank in Receivership, when Crane Bank in receivership had no capacity to foot the costs and yet BoU was aware of that incapacity, BoU was behind the suit and should pay costs for it.

15. Case against Sudhir Ruparelia and Meera Investments dismissed with costs.

09/08/2019

On July 28 1998, Cecilia Maria Goetz, an American national, who was staying at Hotel Equatorial in Kampala was murdered. She had been stabbed more than 30 times in the chest.

The prosecution adduced the evidence of 12 witnesses to prove its case, central to which was the evidence of Paddy Semanda, who was the first prosecution witness. He was a bell boy at the hotel who testified that on the fateful night, he had gone to the deceased's room to deliver fax messages and upon knocking on her door, there was no response from Cecilia but instead a voice of a man that was unknown to him, responded and asked to deliver the deceased's fax messages which he promised to deliver them to her. The bellboy accepted and returned to his post at the reception area.
Shortly after delivering the fax messages to the man, he saw the man pass the reception area carrying unknown load.

Hardly after the said man had left the hotel, someone called asking for the deceased. On calling the deceased's room, the reception workers received no reply. They sent the bellboy to physically check on her. He went to the deceased's door and knocked but she did not open. The bell boy decided to peep into the deceased's room and saw the room messed up with her pillows stained with blood. Mr. Semanda then returned to the reception area and reported the strange scene in Cecilia's room.

His supervisor then went with another person identified as John Oluka and found Cecilia's body lying on the bed. The manager of the hotel was informed of the incident and in turn, reported the matter to the nearby Central police station.

Later, Arinaitwe was arrested on October 30, 1998, in respect of a robbery case in Entebbe. In the course of the investigations, a knife with a manufacturer's inscription "Jack Pyke", was recovered from a vehicle towed from Arinaitwe's compound in upper Kololo. Unknown to Arinaitwe the sheath of the knife had slipped and fell in the hotel room. The sheath which was engraved with the manufacturer's inscription; "Jack Pyke" had earlier on been recovered by police from the murder scene at Hotel Equatorial. The knife fitted in the sheath with precision. Some blood samples taken from Cecilia's room also matched the DNA of Arinaitwe. Subsequently at an Identification parade, the bell boy identified Arinaitwe as the man whom he found in Cecilia's hotel room before she was murdered, hence squarely connecting him to the murder.

In 2003 Arinaitwe was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death. However as he was waiting to suffer the death, he became a beneficiary of the landmark Supreme court judgement which abolished the death Penalty. In 2013 during a re-sentencing, the High court reduced the death sentence to Life Imprisonment. Arinaitwe appealed to the Court of appeal against the Sentence. The Court of Appeal set aside the sentence of Life Imprisonment and replaced it with Imprisonment for 24 years and 9 months to be served from the date he was convicted.

18/07/2019

In matters of sale of land, the doctrine of sale was referred to as where the Vendor becomes in equity a trustee for the Purchaser of the estate sold and the beneficial ownership passes to the Purchaser, the Vendor having a right to the purchase money, a charge or lien on the estate for the security of that purchase money and a right to retain possession of the estate until the purchase money is paid.
See: Osuman v Hajji Haruna Mulangira SCCA No. 58 of 1995

16/07/2019

Is this Agreement legal?

08/07/2019

Take Note: Do not Laminate your Certificate of Title.

A Land Title should never be laminated. It should be kept as it is given to you from the Land Registry.

18/06/2019

Join us as we provide Pro Bono Legal services to the Public on the Annual Uganda Law Society Pro Bono day.

Please check the locations below for the most convenient Pro-Bono venue of choice:

Kampala - Railway Grounds;
Jinja – Busoga Square;
Kabale – Police Grounds;
Gulu – Legal Aid Project offices;
Soroti – Mayor's Gardens, Mbale Municipal Council;
Kabarole – Boma Grounds;
Arua – Arua Police Grounds;
Masindi – Legal Aid Project offices;
Mbarara – Legal Aid Project offices.

16/05/2019

In December 2012 a Portuguese Businessman; Carlos Moreira applied to register the name "Neymar" as his trademark for clothes, footwear and hats. The Brazillian footballer; Neymar challenged the registration of his name as a trademark for some one else. The European Union Intellectual Property Office agreed with Neymar and invalidated the registration. Carlos took his grievance to the General Court of the European Union which found that Carlos had acted in bad faith when he tried to trademark the name "Neymar". Although Carlos had argued that when he registered the name he did not know of Neymar as a rising football star, the Court dismissed his argument. According to the Court Carlos had more than little knowledge in the world of football since on the day he applied to register the Neymar name as his trademark he had also applied to register as a trademark the name of another famous footballer; Iker Casillas.

14/05/2019

8 Years, 8 Months and 6 days it is for Abdallah Kitatta and His Body Guard Detective Constable Ngobi Sowali.

The General Court Martial handed down its sentence to the two having been convicted on 2 counts of Unlawful Possession of Fire Arms contrary to Sections 3(1) and (2) (a) of the Fire Arms Act.

In sentencing the two the Court considered the 1 year 3 months and 24 days that they had spent on remand. The Court sentenced them to 8 Years, 8 Months and 6 days for each of the two counts however they shall serve the sentences concurrently.

Kitatta and his body guard have 14 days to appeal against the decision.

13/05/2019

After spending 16 months in detention, the Former Patron of Boda Boda 2010, Abdallah Kitatta has been found guilty of the offence of Unlawful Possession of Fire Arms contrary to Section 3(1), (2), (a) of the Fire Arms Act. Kitatta and 9 others were charged and tried by the General Court Martial for the offences of Unlawful possession of Fire Arms and Military stores. Unlawful possession of Fire Arms attracts a term of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or a fine not exceeding 1,200,000/= or both. The General Court Martial will deliver its Sentence tomorrow. However he was acquitted on the charge of unlawful possession of Military stores.

02/05/2019

On 15th April 2019 the Judiciary commissioned the Video conferencing system for Buganda Road court and Luzira Prison as a means of hearing cases without having to transport prisoners to the Court room.

Today Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi's bail application was conducted via video conferencing system between Buganda Road court and Luzira Upper Prison.

According to the Judicature (Visual-Audio Link) Rules No. 26 of 2016 a person can give evidence using this technology when the proceedings relate to sexual or violent offences, or for security reasons or to ensure safety of a witness or when a witness lives outside Uganda.

26/04/2019

The unfortunate moment when His Worship Fred Waninda, allegedly assaulted Hannington Kisakye, a journalist attached to Smart 24 TV for recording him as he exited court after testifying on allegations of land grabbing.

RE: JUDICIAL OFFICER ASSAULTS JOURNALISTS It has come to our notice that on Wednesday 24th April, 2019, The Acting registrar planning, performance and Develo...

23/04/2019

Having been aggrieved by the majority decision of the Supreme Court in the Age Limit Appeal one of the Petitioners Male Mabirizi intends to petition the East African Court of Justice to declare that Uganda does not follow the rule of law contrary to the East Africa Community Treaty.

His complaint is that the majority of the Justices of the Supreme Court ignored the doctrine of Precedent and did not follow earlier decided cases that provide that an Act of Parliament passed in Contravention of the law is a nullity.

It should be noted that the East African Court of Justice cannot overturn the decision of the Supreme Court.

The contentious Act removed the 75-year age cap on those seeking to contest for president by expunging Article 102(b) from Uganda’s 1995 Constitution

18/04/2019

Chief Justice Bart M. Katureebe dismisses Age Limit Appeal. By a majority decision of 4:3, the Age limit Appeal fails. The implication is that the decision of the Constitutional court is partly upheld. The Constitution now stands duly amended. There is no age limit for a person aspiring to become a President of the Republic of Uganda.

18/04/2019

Justice Jotham Tumwesigye finds that the Appeal substantially fails. The Appeal is dismissed. Each party to bear its costs. 3 Justices are in favour of annuling Age Limit Act while 3 are against the annulment. The tie breaker will come from the Chief Justice.

18/04/2019

Justice Paul K. Mugamba partly allows the Appeal. His Lordship Struck out the Age Limit Act for having been passed in Contravention of the Constitution and Rules of Procedure. Two more Justices of the Supreme court are yet to deliver their decisions.

18/04/2019

Lady Justice Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza allows the appeal to nullify the Age Limit Act with each party to bear its costs.

18/04/2019

Earlier Justice Rubby Opio Aweri delivered his decision. He agreed with the judgement of Lady Justice Amoko Arach to dismiss the Petition with each party to bear their costs.

📷 Nicholas Bamulanzeki

18/04/2019

Justice Eldad Mwangusya allows the Appeal. He ordered that the Age Limit Act be nullified and each party to meet its own costs for the appeal.

📷 Nicholas Bamulanzeki

18/04/2019

Lady Justice Stella Arach Amoko, Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda confirms the decision of the Constitutional court in the Age limit petition, dismisses the Age limit appeal with each party to bear its costs. Other Justices of the Supreme court are yet to deliver their decisions.

📷 Nicholas Bamulanzeki

17/04/2019

For being a habitual offender in Corruption and Abuse of judicial authority, Magistrate Balintuma Grace has been dismissed from judicial service.

15/04/2019

On Thursday 18th April 2019 at 10am The Supreme Court of Uganda will be delivering its long awaited Judgment in the Age Limit Petition.

12/04/2019

Wherever your inspiration comes from, It is never too late to join the noble profession.

The influencer and reality star says she was inspired to "do more" after visiting The White House.

11/04/2019

Sometime in 2010 Yakub was informed by two work colleagues that his picture was on a billboard at the transit lounge of Entebbe International Airport. He was surprised. So in April/May 2011, as he was travelling to Dubai Yakub saw his picture on a large billboard at the transit lounge accompanied by the words;
"MTN, seeing through your ears, countrywide coverage and clear signal".

Yakub sued MTN for illegally using his photograph on a billboard for advertising purposes without his consent or authority among other things. MTN argued that Yakub assumed a risk of being photographed as he was in a public place.

The court observed that there is still some doubt on whether the publication of private information obtained in a public setting is an infringement of the right to privacy.

The court found that while it was true that Yakub was in a public space, he assumed the risk that he could be accidentally photographed. It was the court's finding that by implication Yakub consented to the risk of his photograph being taken so there was no infringement for taking his photograph when he was in a street.

The court however noted that the publication of the image on a billboard without Yakub's consent was an infringement of his right to privacy as he did not expect to appear in an advert nor did he give his consent.