C.I. 27.
CHIEFTAINCY (NATIONAL AND
REGIONAL HOUSES
OF CHIEFS) PROCEDURE RULES,
1972
IN exercise of the powers
conferred on the Rules of Court
Committee by article 121 of the
Constitution and in pursuance of
section 26 (3) of the
Chieftaincy Act, 1971 (Act 370)
and in consultation with the
National House of Chiefs and all
the Regional Houses of Chiefs,
these Rules are made this 15th
day of May, 1972.
PART I-ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
1.
An action brought to invoke the
original jurisdiction of a
Action Judicial Committee shall
be commenced by petition in Form
1 set out in the First Schedule
which shall be signed by the
petitioner or his Counsel and
filed with the proper officer of
the Judicial Committee.
jurisdiction.
2.
The petition shall be as concise
and brief as possible, and shall
Contents of state- petition.
(a)
the full name of the petitioner
and the capacity in which he is
making the petition;
(b)
the facts and particulars upon
which the petitioner seeks to
rely;
(c)
the nature of the relief or
remedy sought by the petitioner;
(d)
the names and addresses of all
parties who may be directly
affected by the action;
(e)
the names and particulars of the
witnesses, if any, whom the
petitioner intends to call at
the hearing;
(j) the address for service of
the petitioner and of his
Counsel, if any, and each such
address shall be an address for
service.
3.
The proper officer of the
Judicial Committee shall, as
soon as Service of practicable
after filing of the petition,
cause a copy thereof to be
petition. served on each of the
parties mentioned in the
petition as directly affected
who shall be deemed to be the
defendants.
4.
The Judicial Committee may, at
any time, on its own motion
Addition of
or on the application of a
party, order that any other
person be made parties to
a party to the petition in
addition to or in substitution
for any other action,
party.
5.
A defendant upon whom a petition
is served shall, if he wishes
Statement of
to contest the petition, within
fourteen days of such service,
or defendant's
within such time as the Judicial
Committee upon terms may direct,
case. file a statement of the
defendant's case which shall be
signed by the
defendant or his Counsel and
which shall state-
(a)
the facts and particulars upon
which the defendant seeks to
rely;
(b)
the names and particulars of the
witnesses, if any, whom he
intends to call at the hearing;
(c)
the address for service of his
Counsel, where he is represented
by Counsel.
6.
The-proper officer of the
Judicial Committee shall, as
soon as practicable after the
filing of the statement of the
defendant's case, cause copies
thereof to be served on the
other parties to the action.
7.
A petition or a statement of the
defendant's case may at any time
with the leave of the Judicial
Committee be amended on such
terms as the Judicial Committee
may determine.
S.
(1) The parties may agree to
file, or shall if so ordered by
the Judicial Committee file, a
memorandum specifying the issues
agreed by them to be tried at
the hearing of the action.
(2) Where a Judicial Committee
orders the parties to file a
memorandum of issues to be
tried, the proper officer of the
Judicial Committee shall summon
the parties to appear before him
on a date to be specified in the
summons, for the purpose of
drawing up the
memorandum.
(3) The memorandum shall be
signed by the parties and may,
with the leave of the Judicial
Committee granted upon such
terms as the Judicial Committee
may determine, be amended upon
the application of any of the
parties.
9.
(1) The statement of the
petitioner's case and of the
defend- ant's case as well as
the memorandum of agreed issues
(if any) shall be filed with the
proper officer.
(2) Upon receipt of any document
filed the proper officer shall
immediately stamp it as filed,
indicating on the document the
date of filing, and the document
so stamped shall be prima facie
evidence of the date on which it
was filed.
10.
(1) The Judicial Committee shall
appoint a time at which the
parties shall appear before it
for the action to be heard.
(2) At the hearing of the
action, the petitioner shall,
unless the Judicial Committee
directs otherwise, first open
his case and each defendant
shall then be entitled to reply
thereto before the parties and
any witnesses of whom notice has
been given are called to
testify.
(3) The petitioner and the
defendant shall be entitled to
call at the hearing of the
petition any witnesses of whom
notice has been given, and may
with the leave of the Judicial
Committee call any other
witness.
(4) The Judicial Committee may
on its own motion call any
witness whose evidence is, in
the opinion of the Judicial
Committee, likely to be relevant
to the matter before the
Judicial Committee.
(5) Each witness shall be
examined by the party calling
him and the other party shall be
entitled to cross-examine him.
(6) The party calling a witness
may re-examine him in respect
only of matters arising out of
the cross-examination of that
witness.
11.
The Judicial Committee shall at
the conclusion of the hearing
the petition deliver its
judgment, giving its reasons
therefor.
12.
(1) Where the petitioner fails
to appear when his petition is
called for hearing, the Judicial
Committee may strike out or
dismiss the petition
(2) Where a defendant fails to
appear when the petition is
called for hearing, the Judicial
Committee may, if it so wishes,
proceed to hear the petition and
give its decision.
(3) Any judgment ex parte
may be set aside, upon good
cause shown, on application made
to the Judicial Committee within
four- teen days by the party who
did not appear when the petition
was called for hearing.
PART II-APPEALS
13.
(1) An appeal to a Judicial
Committee in accordance with
Making of the Chieftaincy Act.
1971 (Act 370) shall be brought
by notice of appeal. appeal in
Form 2 set out in the First
Schedule signed by the appellant
or his Counsel and filed with
the proper officer of the
Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against.
(2) In accordance with
sections 22 (5) and 23 (6) of
the Chieftaincy Act, 1971 (Act
370), any appeal to the National
House of Chiefs against a
judgment or order of a Regional
House of
Chiefs, or to a Regional House
of Chiefs against a judgment or
order of a Traditional Council,
shall be lodged within thirty
days after the judgment or order
appealed against:
Provided that the Judicial
Committee to whom the appeal is
directed may, if it appears to
it to be just so to do, extend
the said period in any
particular case for a further
period expiring not later than
two months after the date of the
decision appealed against.
14.
(1) The notice of appeal shall
be as concise as possible, and
shall state-
(a)
the address for service of the
appellant;
( b) the grounds of
appeal;
(c)
whether the whole or part only
of the decision is complained of
and in the latter case the part
complained of;
(d) the nature of the relief
sought;
(e)
the name and address of Counsel
for the appellant, if any, which
shall be an address for service;
if) the names and addresses of
all parties directly affected by
the appeal;
(g)
the particulars of any
misdirection or error in law, if
so alleged.
(2) The grounds of appeal shall
set out concisely and under
distinct heads the grounds upon
which the appellant intends to
rely at the hearing of the
appeal, without any argument or
narrative, and shall be numbered
consecutively.
(3) No ground of appeal which is
vague or general in terms or
discloses no reasonable ground
of appeal shall be permitted,
except the general ground that
the judgment is against the
weight of the evidence; and any
ground of appeal or any part
thereof which is not permitted
under the provisions of this
rule may be struck out by the
Judicial Committee hearing the
appeal either on its own motion
or on the application of the
respondent.
15.
The appellant shall provide a
sufficient number of copies of
the notice of appeal for the use
of all members of the Judicial
Committee hearing the appeal and
for service on all parties
directly affected by the appeal.
16.
(1) The proper officer of the
Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against
shall, as soon as practicable
after the filing of the notice
of appeal, cause copies thereof
to be served on each of the
parties mentioned in the notice
of appeal as directly affected
by the appeal and forward copies
thereof to the Judicial
Committee to whom the appeal is
directed.
(2) The Judicial Committee to
whom the appeal is directed
shall be deemed to be seised of
the appeal from the time when it
receives copies of the notice of
appeal, and every application
relating thereto shall
thereafter be made to that
Judicial Committee.
(3) The Judicial Committee
hearing the appeal may direct
notice to be served on any party
to the original action or other
proceeding or upon any person
not a party thereto and may
adjourn the hearing of the
appeal upon such terms as may be
just, and make such order as
might have been made if the
person served with such
notice had originally been a
party to the appeal.
17. (1) A party upon whom an
appellant's notice of appeal is
Statement of served may within
twenty-one days of such service
or within such time as the
Judicial committee upon terms
may direct, file a statement of
his case in answer to the
appellant's notice of appeal,
and thereto. the proper officer
shall thereupon serve the
respondent's statement of case
on the appellant.
(2) The appellant may, within
fourteen days of the service on
him of the respondent's
statement, file with the proper
officer a reply to the
respondent's statement, and the
proper officer shall thereupon
serve such reply on the
respondent.
18. A respondent may give notice
by way of cross-appeal and the
Notice of provisions of rules
14 and 15 shall, mutatis
mutandis, apply to
cross-appeal. such notice of
cross-appeal.
19. (1) The proper officer of
the Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against
shall, upon an appeal being
brought, summon record of the
parties before him to settle the
documents (which expression
shall include any matter which
may form part of a record) to be
included in the record and
shall, whether any of the
parties attend the summons or
not, settle and sign and in due
course file a list of such
documents.
(2) The proper officer of the
Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against, as
well as the parties, shall
endeavour to exclude from the
record all documents (more
particularly such as are merely
formal) that are not relevant to
the subject matter of the appeal
and generally to reduce the bulk
of the record as far as
practicable, taking special care
to avoid duplication of
documents and unnecessary
repetition of headings and other
merely formal parts of
documents; but the documents
omitted to be copied shall be
enumerated in a list at the end
of the record.
(3) If the proper officer of the
Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against or
any party objects to the
inclusion of a document on the
ground that it is unnecessary or
irrelevant and the other party
nevertheless insists upon its
being included, the document
shall be included and the record
shall, with a view to the
subsequent adjustment of the
costs of and incidental to the
inclusion of such document,
indicate in the index of papers
or otherwise the fact that, and
the party by whom, the inclusion
of the document was objected.
(4) The appellant shall within
such time as the proper officer
of the Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against
directs, deposit with him a sum
fixed to cover the estimated
cost of making up and forwarding
the record of appeal.
20.
The appellant shall within such
time as the proper officer of
the Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against
shall fix, deposit such sum as
the proper officer shall
determine or give security
therefor by bond with one or
more sureties to his
satisfaction as such proper
officer may direct, for the due
prosecution of the appeal and
for the payment of any costs
which may be ordered to be paid
by the appellant.
21_
(1) The proper officer of the
Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against
shall transmit the record when
ready together with-
(a)
a certificate of service of the
notice of appeal;
(b)
a certificate that the
conditions imposed under rules
19 (4) and 20 have been
fulfilled;
(c)
sufficient copies of the record
for the use of the Judicial
Committee hearing the appeal;
(d)
the file of the case in the
Judicial Committee below
containing an documents filed by
the parties in connection
therewith.
(2) The proper officer of the
Judicial Committee whose
decision is appealed against
shall also cause to be served on
all parties mentioned in the
notice of appeal a notice that
the record has been forwarded to
the proper officer of the
Judicial Committee hearing the
appeal, who shall in due course
enter the appeal in the
cause list.
22.
(1) It is not open as of right
to any party to an appeal to
adduce new evidence in support
of his original case; but, for
the furtherance of justice, the
Judicial Committee may allow or
require new evidence to be
adduced.
(2) A party may, by leave of the
Judicial Committee, allege any
facts essential to the issue
that have come to his knowledge
after the decision appealed
against and adduce evidence in
support of such allegations.
23.
(1) The Judicial Committee shall
appoint a time at which the
parties shall appear before the
Judicial Committee for the
appeal to be heard.
(2) At the hearing of the
appeal, the appellant shall,
unless the Judicial Committee
directs otherwise, first open
his argument and each respondent
shall then be entitled to reply
thereto, except any respondent
in respect of whom the Judicial
Committee considers that it is
unnecessary for him to reply.
(3) The Judicial Committee may
in hearing the appeal amend the
grounds of appeal and make any
order necessary for determining
the real issue or question in
controversy between the parties,
and may amend any defect or
error in the record of appeal,
and may direct the Judicial
Committee below to enquire into
and certify its finding on any
questions which the Judicial
Committee thinks fit to
determine before final judgment
in the appeal, and generally
shall have as full jurisdiction
over the whole proceedings as if
it were hearing the proceedings
at first instance, and may
re-hear the whole case, or may
remit it to the Judicial
Committee below to be re-heard
or to be otherwise dealt with as
the Judicial Committee directs.
(4) The Judicial Committee shall
at the conclusion of the hearing
of the appeal deliver its
judgment, giving its reasons
therefor.
24.
(1) Where an appellant fails to
appear when his appeal is called
for hearing, the Judicial
Committee may if it so wishes
proceed to hear the appeal and
consider his case on the basis
of the grounds of appeal and
give its decision.
(2) Where a respondent fails to
appear when the appeal is called
for hearing, the Judicial
Committee may if it so wishes
proceed to hear the appeal and
give its decision.
PART III-MISCELLANEOUS
25.
(1) Where the costs of
proceedings brought in
accordance with these Rules are
allowed they may either be fixed
by the Judicial Committee at the
time when the judgment is given
or may be ordered to be taxed.
(2) The proper officer shall be
the Taxing Officer and all such
costs shall be taxed by him
according to the rules for the
time being in force in the High
Court:
Provided that any costs incurred
by way of fees as prescribed in
the Second Schedule shall be
taxed in accordance therewith.
(3) Any person aggrieved by any
order, decision or ruling of the
Taxing Officer may apply to the
Judicial Committee before which
the relevant proceedings were
brought by motion accompanied by
an affidavit in support, to set
aside such order, decision or
ruling and to make such further
order as it thinks fit.
(4) Notice of such motion shall
be served upon the Taxing
Officer and upon all parties
having an interest therein.
26.
A Judicial Committee shall have
power to adjourn any action
before it as it may think fit
and upon such terms as it may
think fit.
27.
(1) The fees payable in respect
of any cause or matter to be
heard before the Judicial
Committee shall be as specified
in the Second Schedule.
(2) Any fees or other moneys
taken or received by a Judicial
Committee shall form part of the
Consolidated Fund.
28.
Where no provision is expressly
made by these Rules or by any
enactment regarding the practice
and procedure to be followed in
any cause or matter before a
Judicial Committee, that
Committee shall follow such
practice and procedure as in the
opinion of the Judicial
Committee the justice of the
cause or matter may require,
regard being had to the
principles of customary law, and
to the practice and procedure of
the High Court of Justice.
29.
(1) Any appeal pending
immediately before the
commencement of these
Regulations by virtue of section
67 (2) of the Chieftaincy Act,
1971 (Act 330) shall
notwithstanding any provision of
these Regulations, be deemed to
have been duly filed in
accordance with these
Regulations, and accordingly no
further fee shall be payable
under these Regulations in
respect of the filing of that
appeal.
(2) Any appeal filed before the
commencement of these
Regulations shall be deemed to
have been filed on the date of
commencement of these
Regulations.
30.
In these Rules-
"appellant" includes the party
appealing and his Counsel;
"Judicial Committee" means the
National House of Chiefs or a
Regional House of Chiefs
exercising their judicial
functions;
"party" includes any party to an
appeal or other proceeding and
his Counsel;
"proper officer" means the
officer, howsoever named,
performing the functions of
Registrar in relation to a
Judicial Committee;
"respondent" means any party
directly affected by the appeal
other than the appellant, and
Counsel for any such party.
FIRST SCHEDULE
FORM I-CHIEFTAINCY PETITION
(Rule 1)
No .......................
19 ... .
A PETITION TO THE JUDICIAL
COMMITTEE OF THE
.......... REGIONAL HOUSE OF
CHIEFS
1. Full names of Petitioner;
………………………………………………….
2. Capacity in which petition is
made ……………………………………
3. Petitioner's address
for service...
...........................................
.
4. Name and address for service
of Petitioner's Counsel, if any
………………
5. Names and addresses of all
parties who may be directly
affected by the
action:
(i) Name ………………………………………………………..
Address ……………………………………………………..
(ii) Name
,……………………………………………………….
Address ……………………………………………………..
6. Names and particulars of the
witnesses, if any, whom the
Petitioner intends to call at
the hearing:
(i)
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
[(ii)
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
.
(iii)
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
(iv)
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
.
WHEREAS the Petitioner has
reason to believe and can prove
that the following
facts and particulars are true
(Here state in a concise form,
the facts and particulars upon
which the Petitioner seeks to
rely.):-
1
.............................................................................................................
.
2
..............................................................................................................
.
3 .........
……………………………………………………………………..
Now, THEREFORE, the Petitioner
seeks the following reliefs or
remedies:-
1.
.........................................................................................
. ................. .
2
..............................................................................................................
.
3
.............................................................................................................
.
Dated this...........
..... day of... ………………….
19 ……………….. .
Petitioner
FORM 2-NOTICE OF APPEAL (Rule
12)
No
..............................
19 ... .
TO THE JUDICIAL COMMIITEE OF THE
NATIONAL HOUSE
REGIONAL HOUSE OF CHIEFS
(Delete inappropriate words)
NOTICE OF APPEAL
Between
Appellant
and
Respondent
TAKE NOTICE that the Appellant
being dissatisfied with the
decision [that part of the
decision] more particularly
stated hereunder contained in
the judgment of the Judicial
Committee of the Regional House
of Chiefs/Traditional authority
given on the day of
19 ,hereby
appeals to the National House of
Chiefs/Judicial Committee of the
…………………………………………… Regional House
of Chiefs upon the grounds set
out in paragraph 4 hereof and
will at the hearing of the
appeal seek the reliefs set out
in paragraph 5 hereof.
2. The part of the decision
complained of is as follows:-
3. The particulars of
misdirection or of error in law
are as follows:-
4. The grounds of appeal are:
1. .
..............................................................................................
.
2. .
........... _
.........................................................
_ ................... .
3. etc
................ .
........................................................................
.
5. The reliefs sought by the
Appellant are:
6. The address for service of
Counsel for the Appellant are as
follows:-
7. The persons directly affected
by this appeal are:
1. Name
…………………………….
Address
……………………………..
2. Name
............... ………………………….
Address
.............. ……………………..
3. Name
...................................................
.
Address
………………………………..
Dated this day
of
19
………………………………..
Appellant
