IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF TANZANIA
AT ARUSHA
Civil Appeal No 61 of 1999
(Makame, Kisanga, and Lugakingira, JJ.A.)
(From the decision of the High Court of Tanzania at Arusha, Mroso, 1. dated 14S eptember 200 1 in Civil Appeal No. 18 of 1995)
Civil Practice and Procedure - Res Judicata - Appellant was not a party top previous suit but had a common interest with parties on one side - The Parties in the previous suit were the appellant s mother and sister - Whether plea of res judicata is available.
In a previous suit the second respondent sued two women in the Primary Court, one being the mother of the appellant and the other his sister. The issue was ownership of apiece of land. The suit succeeded and the two women were ordered to vacate the land. The decision was upheld by the District Court on appeal. About ten years later the appellant sued the respondents in the Resident Magistrate Court, claiming ownership of the same land. The second respondent raised a plea of res judicata which was accepted by the Court, which decision was upheld by the High Court on first appeal.
Still aggrieved, the appellant went to the Court of Appeal to fault the common finding of the Courts below. The evidence on record showed that during the time of the litigation in the previous suit the appellant was aware of the litigation and witnessed what was taking place in Court.
Held: Though the appellant was not formally joined in the former suit, for the purposes of section 9 of the Civil Procedure Code he must be deemed to have claimed under his mother in that suit explanation (vi) to section 9 is not confined to representative suit
Appeal dismissed
No comments:
Post a Comment