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LEGAL METHODS NOTES

PURPOSE AND AIM

 To make student acquire skills which include the following:

o Interpretation and analysis of legal issues.

o Instilling independent academic research skills

o Planning assignments and presentations

o Presenting arguments, structuring and drafting documents.

o Acquire best legal reasoning.

Objectives of the course

o This course seeks to enable students to identify, analyze and research issues in any
area of law.

o To equip students with the basic skills and information necessary to navigate the
law-related courses and activities in the study of law.

o Introducing students to legal citations, legal analysis, statutory interpretation, legal

research and legal writing.

o To help students develop skills in oral advocacy, legal drafting, teamwork,

professional ethics, and developing a professional identify in the context of
practicing law.

INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS LEGAL METHODS?

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Legal method is simply defined as an attempt to explain or analyse the technique of 'thinking like
a lawyer. (A. Holland & J.S. Webb, Learning Legal Rules, Blackstone Press Ltd., London, 1991,
p. xi. )

Legal methods also refers to a set of techniques used to analyze and apply the law; and to determine
the appropriate weight that should be accorded to different sources of law. According to Simon
Lee and Larry Fox, “the course or study of legal method can be used as the basis of a first year
course or an intensive introductory course in the first year to develop skills throughout a four year
course. Legal methods is an introduction to both the nature of the English legal system and it’s
sources and the techniques which lawyers use when handling these sources.”

Legal methods is made up of two words: ‘Legal’ and ‘method’. The word “legal” means,
something relating to the law or anything deriving authority from or founded on law. “Method”
on it’s part, is a systematic procedure, technique, or mode of inquiry employed by, or proper to a
particular discipline of law.
Legal methods is a process of studying the use and construction of legal rules, with a view to
gaining insight into how law is planned and organized to achieve its objectives in a society.

Legal methods focuses on;

1. The orientation of students to legal studies from the point of view of basic concepts of law
and legal systems.
2. Helping students to think and act like a lawyer and respond to law studies accordingly.
Harry W. Jones asserts that, the beginning law student goes through an experience for
which nothing in his past education has prepared him, and thus finds it hard to adjust to the
way things are handled in law studies. He continues to elucidate that;
3. “Above all, the beginning law student finds it hard to grasp just what it is that is expected
of him, what insights he is supposed to bring to the class discussions and exams…..”
4. Assisting students to respond to all the difficulties law students face while trying to fit
within the ambit of legal education and the legal profession at large.
5. Providing ground work on the fundamental concepts of law. Gold in his article,
“Traditional Legal Education” has summed up the nature of traditional legal education as

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follows; “Traditional legal education (1) pursues the learning of legal facts, (2) through a
process of analysis, (3) which teaches students to think like lawyers, (4) then asks questions
about underlying fundamental principles, (5) and about policies. Almost all of this study
engages the rational mind in an essentially objective analysis.”
6. Legal methods under the umbrella of ‘legal education’ teaches the students to engage with
legal texts, to think critically about the law, and to familiarize students with theoretical
debates on the nature of law and acquaint them with their real world consequences. It
equips students to gain a basic understanding of the legal system, the institutions, the nature
of legal rules, the technique of legal and logical reasoning and analysis.

In our Ugandan legal system the phrase “common law” is most commonly used to refer to judge-
made law as distinguished from statutory law. I think everyone would agree that our whole legal
heritage derives from the common law which originated at a time when the courts were the prime
law-makers. Thus by definition, the common law deals with problems which have not been
resolved by legislative action. Lord Wright has written that; “…………law is not an end in itself.
It is a part in the system of a government of the nation in which it functions, and it has to justify
itself by its ability to sub-serve the ends of government, that is to help to promote the ordered
existence of the nation, and the good life of the people.”

TOPIC 1: METHODS OF LEARNING THE LAW

There are many ways of learning the law.

1. Research based learning

Research based learning system of instruction or study of law focused upon the analysis of
textbooks.

Students know how to use authorities appropriately requiring a good reading culture. This is basic
for any trained lawyer.

2. Case method
It is a learning system of instruction or study of law focused upon the analysis of court opinions
rather than lectures and textbooks.

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Case method trains one in conducting research independently, which should be emphasized in
legal research methodology course. It strengthens students on acquiring techniques in identifying
and search the law.
Therefore, students have to be assigned cases and statues to read and make presentation in class.
This however depends on availability of reading lists, which should be provided to students.
These reading lists must be updated every semester to capture new developments.

Rationale of the case method

a) The case method enables a student to master the use and application of the law.

b) Offers students opportunity to read, analyze and interpret cases by themselves.

c) Students are better educated about interpreting case decisions.

d) To encourage students to read actual judicial decisions which become the law under the
rule of stare decisis.

e) The case study method therefore, requires students to work almost exclusively with
primary source material.

f) It is the primary method of legal instruction throughout Ugandan universities and other
common law countries. On the other hand the case method involves real parties with real
problems.

g) It stimulates students more than do textbooks.

h) Helps students develop the ability to read and analyze cases, which is a crucial skill for
lawyers.

i) Offers instruction in basic lawyering skills.

j) Reading cases enables students learn how and why judges adhere, or do not adhere to law
developed in previous cases.

k) Students learn the skill of critical analysis;

l) Students can separate relevant and irrelevant facts;

m) Students are able to distinguish between seemingly similar facts and issues; and,

n) It enables them to use analogies: i.e. using scenarios to explain facts and issues.

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o) Students also learn how judges have the discretion to create law by construing statutes or
constitutions.

p) It teaches, by example, the system of legal precedence.

q) Landmark cases are highlighted and can be summarized together with holdings in other
cases which further refine the rule.

r) Students are expected to write case briefs.

3. The Socratic method

This is a Social process that enables students to orally respond to questions designed to help them
gain further insight into the meaning of the law;
It involves many cognitive processes, such as strategic thinking, articulating reasons, clearly
expressing ideas, writing, and speaking, are developed best through social interaction. Students
learn higher-level thinking, problem solving, and sophisticated argument by observing and
working with others. An environment of mutual respect among teacher and students and
enthusiasm for the course;
 Variety in methods of teaching, learning, and evaluation;
 Clear course and class objectives and clear directions for learning activities;
 Course materials with multiple levels of complexity and different perspectives;
 Examples from students' experiences;
 Active learning, such as field work, group projects, and simulations;
 Frequent and timely feedback.

Clinical approach

This introduces students to legal writing, client counselling, negotiations, external-ships, trial
practice (in other words skills courses.
Group activities can provide immediate feedback on the quality of students' thinking, ideas, and
expression. More highly skilled thinkers, such as teachers and advanced peers, model high-level
skills. Students working in groups can collectively reach levels none of them could have reached
alone. Finally, tasks that connect to the real world, such as clinical work and externships, create a

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potent environment for the development of thinking, speaking, and writing skills in context rather
than in isolation.

Find out more on Doctrinal Study:

It focuses on learning theories and principles of law established through past decisions.
Legal solving approach (Use of SMART tools).
This instills skills for identifying the real legal problem, which helps the learner to apply the law
and reasoning skills in applying it to the facts.

Exercise: Find out the advantages and disadvantages of each method above
Legal Research and how to find the law
Objectives of the lecture
Introduce and familiarize student to the library resources
Training students on the tools for conducting legal research and how to find the law

Introduction
Research is an integral part of the study of law and legal practice, and other disciplines, and
therefore unavoidable. Legal research is the process of identifying and retrieving information
necessary to support legal decision-making.
There is a saying in law that nobody knows the law, it is in the books and lawyers only know where
to find it.
What are the implications of this saying? A lawyer or a law student must always be engaged in
legal research.
Legal research is one of the tenets of legal training and practice. It is in the books where the law
can be found. Therefore, a lawyer has to be updated about the current state of the law, so is a writer.

This is the way how lawyers and legal scholars look for information on matters regarding law.
Glanville Williams asserts that, “Lawyers do not know much more law than other people but they
know better where to find it.” Legal research is therefore the process of identifying and retrieving
information necessary to support legal decisions.

Importance of Legal Research:

i. Collection of authoritative material may be relevant to solve a legal problem.

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ii. Helps one who consecutively carries it out to master it which is important.

Therefore a good legal researcher must have;

a) Knowledge about the current state of the law either in statutes, reported or unreported
cases. Unreported cases are important sources of law but must be brought to the attention
of the judge.
b) Must have knowledge about the law library and how to use it.
c) Must always have organized legal materials and properly stored.
d) Must always have firsthand sources. The implications of this are:

i. When reading, you do not have to write volumes of notes or depend on lecture
notes.
ii. You have to make your own notes, and have always to verify them with actual
authorities as soon as you can.
iii. Do not depend on another man’s notes. They may be better in themselves but
they may be worse for you the learner.
iv. You have to be careful when reading commentaries, summaries, which should
be avoided as much as possible. You cannot become a lawyer by trusting such
sources and if you make use of them to pass an examination, you cannot be a
lawyer worthy the name.
v. Do not confine yourself to text books. They are not sources of law, it is found in
statutes and cases.
vi. A text writer may cite the law, but he or she expresses an opinion which has no
legal force. This is because such an author may have wrongly cited the law.
Therefore you must be familiar with law reports and statutes.
vii. As a student you must be familiar with catalogues. They constitute the tools of
a lawyers’ trade. Their masterly will make life of a law student, teacher,
researcher or judge much better.

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What Is Legal Research?

Research is a careful and detailed study of a subject in order to know all about it. In other words,
it is a careful and detailed study of a subject in order to discover all the information about it. Thus
legal research is the careful and detailed study of facts and law in order to achieve a desired legal
result. For instance, in order to find applicable laws, principles, rules, case law, facts, arguments,
ideas, the writings of other jurists or persons or to discover any useful information that will help
to achieve a desired legal point or purpose.

Why Research?
Law is not static. Rather, it is dynamic and developing. It is a lawyer’s task to determine through
the proper use of source materials in the library, what the current rules are on a given subject.
Based on the research findings, a lawyer may persuade the court to adopt his own reasoning or
interpretation.

When a lawyer is researching, he is certainly looking for something that will throw more light on
a certain legal problem in order to enable him determine the position of his client vis-a-vis the law.
If our laws were perfect, there may probably be no need for research. Research is essential for the
continuous development of the law towards the achievement of its objectives. A lawyer through a
diligent research and advocacy can persuade the court to adopt a new position and even reverse its
prior decision(s). This is why continuous study is necessity for all the members of the legal
profession. Research also takes us to the primary source of legal materials. A law student who
wants to become a lawyer and not merely pass law examinations (which is not the same thing)
must learn to use the primary source of legal materials.
Research is an important part of legal education. It is the lifeline of legal education and practice.
The reasons why any person or a lawyer needs to carry out research, examine, or investigate
anything or laws are numerous. These include the need:

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1. To refresh memory and remain sound in knowledge of the law, or legal issue
2. To know all the facts, and information about a thing, law, subject or situation
3. To keep pace with the speed and growth of law in a dynamic world that is ever changing and
advancing in terms of new innovations, developments, relationships, activities, facts and law
4. To find applicable statutes or laws
5. To discover applicable case law or judicial precedents
6. To know and rightly or legally decide the rights and duties of parties in a dispute
7. To know the rights and duties, strengths and weaknesses of a case of a client
8. To discover the works, writings, propositions and opinion of other jurist and persons
9. To discover or test new ideas
10. To improve one’s argument and advocacy
11. To identify gaps and push for reform
12. To have legal materials and authorities to persuade court to agree with one’s reasoning,
interpretation and prayers
13. To have materials to continually reform and develop the law
14. To pass professional examinations, interviews, and meet the needs of clients and the challenges
in the legal profession
15. To develop and improve legal capacity
16. To render better services in legal practice and profession in whatever capacity a lawyer is
serving
17. To develop and improve his legal skills and capacity generally
18. To improve on existing knowledge.

Rationale for conducting legal research

The main reason for conducting research is to obtain and or expand knowledge or answers to legal
problems. This means that research must have a researchable problem. Therefore you cannot start
research without an issue. This is also important when reading case law or statutes.
A lawyer’s competence depends on the legal knowledge he or she has. Therefore research becomes
part and parcel of a lawyer’s trade.

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Prerequisites of research
Defining a research problem.
Whether legal or non-legal research, a researcher is prompted to conduct a research because there
is a problem which needs solutions.

Filling in the gaps

It either a problem which has not been researched on, it is new or the existing knowledge is not
sufficient to deal with the issues. The identification of a problem may be based on personal
experiences, a social-legal problem, or on literature available which does not provide sufficient
answers to certain issues.
Methodology
This is how the research is conducted.
i. Is it going to basic research which will involve fieldwork, or it is going to be empirical,
doctrinal? This may define the methods used in the study.
ii. Is it going to be qualitative or quantitative?
iii. How is the data to be collected and analyzed?
iv. How are the findings in the study to be handled?

NOTE: One should a lot should be taken into consideration however here are ways one can start
their research
i. Ask questions to establish the reason for carrying out legal research.
ii. Identifying the sources of law; i.e case law or statutory law, ICT e.t.c.
iii. Knowledge about the facts.
iv. Analyzing the facts so as to determine the issues.
v. Legal problems to be determined; these arise from the facts and facts analysis and once
established, a researcher can solve them.
vi. Technique of note taking; i.e finding the law applicable.
vii. Citation; this refers to the process of referencing to any legal source as authority for the
conclusion of law cited in the text.

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LESSON 2: WHERE TO FIND THE LAW

The Library
When most people think of a library, they think of books alone; but a Library contains much more than
books. A library is a storehouse of information. It is a room or building where books and other records
and information are kept for reading and borrowing. There are basically two types of libraries; the
physical library and the E-library. Just as the items in a store come in various forms, so does the
information in a library. It can be in printed forms as in books, or periodicals or other printed materials,
but it can also be in electronic form, in the form of films, recordings, video and sound tapes or almost
any format. Our discussion here will however be limited to printed materials. Since law is
multidisciplinary in nature, our discussion of printed materials will however not be limited to legal
materials.

The library is to a lawyer what the laboratory is to a scientist. A law student should therefore
supplement his lecture notes with textbooks of local and foreign authors, statutes, case law materials,
journals, articles and other relevant materials.
Glanville emphasis the crucial role of law reports and statutes in his advice to all students of law as
follows:
“The great disadvantage of confining oneself to textbooks and lecture notes is that it means taking all
one’s law at second hand. The law is contained in statutes and judicial decisions what the text writer
thinks is not, in itself, law. He may have misinterpreted the authorities and the reader who goes to them
goes to the fountain head. Besides familiarizing himself with the law reports and statute books, the
lawyer-to-be should get to know his way about the library as a whole together with its apparatus of
catalogues and books of reference.”

The Role of the Librarian

A good legal practitioner spends a surprising amount of time in a law library looking up the law on a
particular point. Here, the importance of the librarian as a very important research source can never be
over-emphasis. The librarian is an official who works in a library. He takes care of the books and other
resources in the library for public use. He supervises the library activities, ensuring that relevant books
and information are stocked. He ensures proper shelving of library books and materials and their safety.
He assists users with information on how to use the library by answering their quick reference
questions. The law librarian is constantly looked upon as a specialist in giving information on what

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sources are relevant on specific subjects. It is an added advantage if a law librarian is legally trained.
Once a researcher has a competent law librarian as aid, his work of researching is simplified in that
once the subject area of his research has been identified, he can wait for the librarian to assemble both
primary and secondary sources of law materials for his use. Unfortunately, librarians of the type
described above are not common in many of our libraries in the country. The researcher, apart from
the assistance from a good librarian must himself have a good knowledge of how to use the library
effectively.

Describe your experience with librarians at Uganda Christian University

Identification of books
Most books are identified by at least six elements viz:
(i) the cover;
(ii) the author’s name;
(iii) the publisher;
(iv) the title;
(v) the place of publication; and
(vi) the date of publication.

Apart from (i) information about all the other elements are written on the title page, which is the
first important printed page of the book. When a researcher is looking for relevant books in the
Library, there are many ways he can go about it. One way is to browse around the shelf with the
hope of getting some relevant books. This may take him a great deal of time if ever he is able to
find any. Books are not arranged by the colours of their covers or sizes. Rather, they are arranged
in a logical way, which enables a researcher to locate relevant books with minimum problem in
good time. Most of the books have at least one thing in common. They do have a subject.

That is, they are written to explain or illustrate something. In libraries, books are arranged
according to a classification system.

In a classification system, all books on the same subject are placed together in the same shelf,
section or reading room. The two commonest classification systems are the Library of Congress

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classification and the Dewey decimal classification. A. quick way to find out which of the
classification a library uses is to pull any of the books from the shelf and check how the call mark
(the identification number) on the book is written. If the call mark begins with a letter such as
K108.7 it is the library of congress classification. If the call mark begins with numbers such as
642.13 it is the Dewey Decimal System. The basic difference between the two is that one uses
letters to classify books into major subject classes (the Library of Congress) while the other uses
number (the Dewey Decimal). Most libraries in Uganda are using the Library of Congress
Classification hence our discussion will be limited to this classification.

Tracing a Particular Book in most libraries

Each book on the shelf is given a call number. The call number identifies a book the same way a
fingerprint identifies a person. No two books in a library have the same call number. The call
number of a book consists of the letter(s) representing the broad subject area (or sub-topic) of the
book and a series of numbers and letters that further identify the book. Let us assume that a book
written by John Cyprian has as the call number, B358C57. B tells us that the book is on the subject
of philosophy of religion, is the unique book number, which identifies that particular book. B
Identifies the broad subject area in this case Philosophy. 358 further identifies the subject e.g.
meta-physics or ethics. C is the first letter of the author’s last name. 57 is a number which further
identifies the author. After a book has been given a call number, it is placed on the shelf first
alphabetically by the broad subject area letter and numerically by the subject’s numbers, then
alphabetically and numerically again by the author’s letter and number. A book with the call No.
B200A18 would be shelved before B200C57. In looking up a particular book on the shelf, one has
to use common sense. If you are looking for a book with call No. K 146 or 62, after locating the K
shelf where books written by authors whose last name begin with K are shelved, if you have seen
a book with K146 or 62 you do not have to check the book one by one again. It should now be
apparent that to find any book in the library, you need only know its call number. You then trace
it on the shelves alphabetically by the first letter in the call number and numerically by the
remaining numbers and letters.

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How to Find Library Materials Using the Catalogue

We have said that one of the ways a researcher can go about his research is to browse around the
shelves looking for the books he needs. May be he will find them and maybe he will not. This may
take a great deal of time and very often he may not have a great deal of time to spare. Here is where
the library catalogue helps him. The catalogue tells a researcher about all the books in the library.
The catalogue becomes even more important with libraries that have closed stacks (i.e. where
students are not allowed to go directly to the catalogue books). Even where the stacks are open
and may be used by anyone, the library catalogue offers the best approach. While it is true that a
browse sees all the books on the shelf, he may miss those that have been borrowed, those waiting
to be reserved or perhaps those on the reserve. The catalogue is usually located near the entrance
to the library or any other conspicuous place where it may be freely accessed.

Library catalogues come in several forms. There are book catalogues produced from computer
printout. The catalogues may be in micro-film or microfiche. The most common form, though, is
the card catalogue. The information is printed or typed on 3”x5” card which are filed
alphabetically in trays in a central cabinet. Regardless of its form, all library catalogues have one
thing in common in the sense that materials may be located in them by knowing the author, the
title or the subject. In a card catalogue, there will be one card for the author (the author’s entry),
one card for the title entry and at least one card for the subject (subject entry) - all for the same
book. Literary works are often an exception. They are not entered in the library catalogue under
their subjects. If you know the author of the book you want but you are not sure of the title, you
should check the author’s entry. Subject entries on its part tell what books a library has on a
subject. The author’s entry is however the main entry. It has all the information found on the title
page such as the author’s complete name and the full title, the

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LESSON 3: SOURCES OF LAW.

PRIMARY SOURCES
The primary sources include English Law (consisting of the received English law as well the
extended English law); legislation and subsidiary enactments; case law or judicial precedent; and
customary law rules, including the Islamic law where applicable. The secondary sources of law
comprise of law reports; textbooks; legal periodicals; law digests; legal dictionaries; newspapers,
among others. We must quickly point out here that only the primary sources could have binding
force on a court of law whereas the mentioned secondary sources can merely serve persuasive
purposes, and are usually relied upon where no primary source is available or applicable. We shall
attempt a detailed discussion of each of these sources one after the other.

The English law

When undertaking a study on any legal system it is important to put into consideration of the
impact of English law. The received English law remains a veritable source of law even in Uganda.
This is understandably so because of Uganda’s colonial heritage as English law was introduced
into different parts of this country following the establishment of British colonial administration
in the nineteenth century. The various legislatures in Uganda have thereafter made enactments
which received English law directly, into their jurisdictions or extended the force of English
statutes into Uganda. The relevant provisions in such statutes were usually written in general terms
without specifying the particular topics on which English statutes are received.

Applicability of Common Law and Equity in Uganda

Uganda was declared a British Protectorate in 1894. By this declaration Uganda came within the
ambit of the African Order-in-Council 1889, this authorized the local Consul to establish local
jurisdiction under which he could exercise considerable executive, judicial and administrative
powers.
In 1902 the Uganda Order-in-Council was promulgated under the authority Foreign Jurisdiction
Act, 1890. Under Article 15 of the Order-in-Council, a High Court of Uganda to be known as His

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Majesty’s High Court of Uganda was established with full civil and criminal jurisdictions in all
cases and over all persons in Uganda. The High court was empowered to apply common law and
English Statutes of General Application.

What is a 'statute of general application'?

In Dede v African Association ltd, (1910) I All NLR 130, the court held that although section 14
of the Supreme Court Ordinance speaks of statutes of general application which were in force in
England, nevertheless, all such statutes must be taken to apply to the United Kingdom. Weber, J,
ruled that 'statutes of general application' must mean those statutes applicable throughout the
United Kingdom and not those in force in England only.

In 1967, statutes of general application ceased to apply in Uganda by virtue of the Judicature Act
No. 11 of 1967, which provides under its Section 3 that the Jurisdiction of the High Court was to
be exercised subject to the Constitution in conformity with the written law including any law in
force immediately before the commencement of this act;
b) subject to any written law and in so far as the same does not extend or apply, and in conformity
with,
i) The common law and the doctrines of equity;
j) Any established and current customs or usage…
c) where no express law, or rule is applicable to any matter in issue before the High Court in
conformity with the principles of justice, equity and good conscience;
3. The applied law, the common law and the doctrines of equity shall be in force only in so far as
the circumstances in Uganda and of its people permit and subject to such qualifications as the
circumstances may render necessary.
According to the Platt J. S. C, in Uganda Motors Limited v. Wavah Holdings Limited (Civil
appeal No 19/1991) [1992] UGSC 1,
The “applied law” refers to the laws applied in the Act….it means the United kingdom acts
The acts shall continue to apply in uganda subject to modifications and adpatations (see Sec 47 of
Act 11 of 1967 and the schedules). They follow on from the schedules to the Judicature Act of
1962. These are not the Acts of general application which later acts are not specified in the
schedules of the Judicature Act of 1962. The reference to 11th August 1902 in the 1967 Act is

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that in section 47, and is related to amendments in scheduled Acts before that date was one of such
enactments. Admiralty offences( Colonial) Act 1847, Convenyancing (Scotlanfd Act 1874,
Merchant shipping act

(Law reform (MiSc provisions) act, Civil Produre rules Limitation act Judicature (Habeas Corpus)
rules, Government proceedings Act, Supreme Court Rules)

Article 15(2) of the Uganda Order in Council, particularly provided that;

The Legislation of colonies and other territories where the English common law in whole or in
part prevails is governed by the same rules of construction as apply in England.
Uganda therefore received common law and equity by virtue of 1902 Order-in-Council, through
the Article 15 also referred to as the reception clause. This provision was later incorporated in the
Judicature Act (Cap 34) of 1962 (now repealed) which under its Section 2 declared that the
Jurisdiction of the High Court was to be exercised subject to the Constitution
a) in conformity with the written laws in force on 9th October 1962 including the laws applied by
the act, or may hereafter be applied or enacted;
b) subject to such written laws and so far as the same do not extend or apply –
(i) in conformity with the substance of the common law, the doctrines of equity and the statutes of
general application in force in England on the 11th August 1902
c) Provided that the said common law, doctrines of equity and statutes of general application shall
be in force in Uganda only so far as the circumstances of Uganda permit, and subject to such
qualifications as local circumstances may render necessary.”

S. 14 of the Judicature Act Cap 13 provides for the application of Common Law and Equity as
part of the law applicable in Uganda only insofar as the circumstances of Uganda and of its peoples
permit, and subject to such qualifications as circumstances may render necessary. Subsection 4
further provides that the rules of equity and the rules of common law shall be administered
concurrently; and if there is a conflict or variance between the rules of equity and the rules of
common law with reference to the same subject, the rules of equity shall prevail.

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From all that we have discussed, it is obvious that the English law remains a very important source
of Ugandan law. However, by virtue of Uganda being an independent and sovereign nation, foreign
laws, including the English law, do not have any binding force on our courts but may only serve
as persuasive authorities.

Legislation
Ugandan legislation consists of statutes and subsidiary legislation. Statutes are laws enacted by the
legislative arm of government. These are variously called Ordinances, Acts, Decrees, Laws
depending on when and by who or under which form of government they were made. Subsidiary
legislation is law enacted under the powers conferred by a statute. Another name for subsidiary
legislation is delegated legislation. Examples of these are the bye-laws of local governments,
regulations of public corporations, statutory instruments by ministers and so on. A statute under
which a subsidiary legislation is made is known as an enabling statute.
Without doubt, legislation is the most important source of law in any nation of the modem world.
It has an overwhelming influence on all other sources of law and can indeed be referred to as the
measuring scale for the efficacy of any other legal source and can indeed alter their content.

Statutes
There is an index of the Laws of Uganda. It is arranged alphabetically. This index helps you to
find out the law in force. In reputable libraries, you will find all repealed statutes deleted and if
just the amended, the parts affected are deleted.
This is to help a researcher to omit such statutes lest he or she might think they are still authority.
Another source of sources on legislation are gazettes. All principle and subsidiary legislation is
published in the government gazette at Entebbe.
Subsidiary legislation appears as legal notices.

Delegated or subsidiary legislation

Closely related to the above are delegated or subsidiary legislation. These are the enactments made
by persons or bodies other than the legislature pursuant to express powers conferred on such
persons or bodies by the competent legislature. The use of these species of legislation has become
inevitable as a result of the dynamics involved in modem day governance. It is practically

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impossible for the legislature to make laws for every aspect of human life, more so as there can be
unforeseeable variations in patterns of events and human conducts. It must also be recognised that
there are numerous areas of public affairs that would require technical expertise with which the
legislature may not be able to cope.

Customary law
Another important source of law is customary law. Customary law consists of the customs
accepted by members of a community as binding among them. Ethnic customary law is
indigenous, unwritten and diverse from one ethnic group to the, other, The diversity of customary
law systems is a major obstacle to uniformity of customary law systems in each State. Gomesi,
kwanjula tranditional weddings

Case law or judicial precedent is a cardinal source of law. Its continued relevance lies in its
provision of ready solutions to legal problems at hand. It makes for substantial uniformity,
consistency and certainty in the law because it enables lawyers, litigants and members of the public
to anticipate and predict the outcome of disputes involving the law. The use of judicial precedent
and case law ensures that settled expectations are not unduly disrupted through default, mischief,
or ignor9u bbance. Donogue vs Stephenson.
Case law
When one is reading a case, they need to ask themselves the following questions;
i. What is the purpose?
ii. Who the parties are?
iii. Citation of the case; Shows case number and year.
iv. Date of decision; Date court made the decision.
v. Catch words or key words in a case.
vi. Head Notes; summary of court decisions.
vii. What is the subject matter of legal concern? (The legal problem)
viii. What is the cause of action? You must be certain of the facts.
ix. What are the issues
x. What remedy is being sought?
xi. What legal authorities you intend to use?
xii. Where do you start to research?
xiii. Advocates who represented.
xiv. Marginal letter; these are used for purposes of checking reference.
xv. Decision of court.
xvi. Order of court.

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Where can one find case law?

4. Case law can be got from various reports or volumes of books such as;
5. Weekly Law Reports
6. All England Law Reports
7. Law Times Reports
8. Law Journal Reports
9. East African Law Reports.
10. How to cite a case:
Tom Ojienda and Katarina Juma in their book ‘Exodus of Law’ define a “Citation” as,
a reference to a specific legal source such as a constitution, statute, reported case e.t.c.
Case name---Year---Report Volume---Reporter---Abbreviation---Page Number.

International law
The history of mankind shows that no nation can exist in isolation from others. This is the basis of
the branch of law known as jus gentium (the law of nations). Because of the growing interactions
among States' of the modem world, various instruments have been put in place to regulate the
inter-relationships and activities of states among themselves. Beyond this, certain agreements also
exist which create obligations for States which are parties to such agreements to do or refrain from
doing certain acts. Such agreements are variously known as conventions, covenants, treaties,
standards, declaration etc.
It must however be noted that by virtue of the constitutional system in Uganda, a treaty does not
become operative until enacted it into law. An illustration that readily comes to mind here is the
African Charter on Human and People's Rights, 1981, which has been incorporated into the laws
of Uganda.

SECONDARY SOURCES
Apart from the various primary sources already discussed, there exists a plethora of other sources
of law. These are mainly in documentary form. They are important because it is in book form that
written laws are stated. Some of these sources are law reports; textbooks; periodicals; journals and
law digests; and law dictionaries. We shall attempt to discuss these in turn.
Google, what is the main word in the case, that’s what you put in the system
Law texts, books and treatises

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A textbook or treatise written by learned scholars and jurists constitute a very important source of
law. It is the same experience in virtually all legal systems.
Classical authors of outstanding textbooks on the English law include Bracton; Coke and
Blackstone. Others like Dicey; Cheshire; Hood Phillips; Wade have continued to emerge over the
years.
Legal dictionaries give you diefinitions and may provide primary citation
Legal encyclopedias introductions to legal topics citations to more law reviews
Law reports
Law reports as well as an efficient law reporting system are essential for a smooth system of judicial
administration. This is because in any nation where the principle of judicial precedent is
operational, like Nigeria, it is only by reference to reported cases that courts and lawyers would be
able to ascertain the position of law in their areas of jurisdiction.
The oldest species of law reports are the Year Books (1282-1537). They are regarded as the most
comprehensive reports but are criticised to have been mere notes taken by students and
practitioners of law for educational or professional purposes.
Periodicals, journals and legal digests.
Legal periodicals published at law schools sometimes edited by students.. needs of Scolars
Law Reviews begin with a summary of relevant doctrine and literature o a particular area of
law..contain many footnotes citing both primary and secondary
Professional Law journal ….needs of practicing lawyers.
Articles are usually shorter with fewer citations and emphasize current developments for interst of
practicing lawyers. How to draft a particular document

How to get a periodical article

Name of article in the library catalog
Look out for it in the data base

Digests are equally available for example, the Digest of Supreme Court Cases. Digests are
abridgements of cases, that is, they are useful summaries, of the facts, issues, arguments and
decisions in judicial proceedings.

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Some foreign legal dictionaries are also available in Uganda. Some of these are Black’s law
Dictionary, Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law, Stroud's Judicial Dictionary, etc.

Halsbury is Laws of England covers a whole spectrum of English laws and is divided into
alphabetically arranged titles making it convenient to use and enabling quick and early research
into any area of law.
All England Law Reports are described as books with a long running series of law reports
converging a court system in England and Wales. They are commercially produced alternatives to
the official reports produced by the incorporated council of law reporting.
East Africa Law Reports are published reports of appellate court decisions from Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda.
Glanville Williams; Learning the Law 13th edition is a book first published in 1945 and has been
introducing students to the foundation skills needed to study law effectively for the for the last 61
years. This book has proven to be a key source of questions in prior LDC Pre-Entry Exams. Legal
resources are resource from which laws are derived and books in Ugandan Law libraries are books
the Ugandan law library entails which are listed as follows; starting with the legal resources,
Law library is where books are located in the cells of the law library.
Legal data bases following a list of online legal data base researchers will need to use a
combination of these databases. Researchers will also need to use a combination of those online
resources and paper resources as described in the section of the books.
Law journals, this is a list of journal resources useful for African legal research, finding books
and articles on international foreign law and indexes are to be considered.
Legal resource indexes such as Wilson’s via the law library electronic, is the indexes, databases,
[periodical and treaties indexes. The law library electronic is the computer where legal information
is obtained through researching on internet.
Cyber law encyclopedia, according to its description is the computer and information technology
law reference source for example, source; Alan M. Gahtan (1997-08-10).
Uganda online law library, database is available to George Town law community, but you must
sign with the library password.

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Statutes and legislation. The most recent consolidated edition of the statutes of Uganda was
published in 2000. To find more recently enacted laws, you must research legislation that is;
constitution of Uganda.

N.B: The starting point is the law library and how to use the legal sources (See Glanville Williams)
In conducting legal research, the following must be noted:
Accuracy, Catalogues and their purposes are key to finding information.
Before computers became dominant as sources of information libraries have catalogues, which
indicate the contents of a library. They may be by author or index. What is an index?
Catalogues by authors are arranged alphabetically and the index is arranged by general subject.
Catalogues constitute the first step in identifying sources.
Entries may either be class marks or decimal.

Searching Law Reports: How to find a law report

According to Glanville William, finding a law report starts with the index, which indicates the
reference to the case at all stages.
You will find an index outlining the report(s) in which a judicial decision is indicated. While citing
cases one has to lookout for the following:

Two pages references and their importance

For instance you might find in a law report cases cited twice in the same report. E.g. [2017] 1 QB
1, 8 or [2017] 1 QB 1 at p8.
The first page contains the beginning of the case and the second stage has the dictum from which
the real reference is being made. This is important for citations. The second indicates the exact
page from where to find the issue under discussion.
Therefore you always have to bear this mind when writing whether a legal brief or a research
paper.
For the Weekly Digest, which publishes digests of new cases on a weekly basis will lead you to
identify new authorities.
There are many indexes and please refer to Glanville William at p41-44 for further reading.

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Square and round brackets.

Brackets indicate the usefulness of time. A square bracket is an indicator that the year is very
important for searching the source while under a round bracket, the year is not important. For
instance you might find a law report cites as follows: Stanley v Powell (1890) 60 LJQB 52 and
Stanley v Powell [1890] 1 QB 86.
For the former, the year is not important, it is the volume and journal from where to find it. While
the latter, the year is very crucial.
Therefore when citing cases, you have to be careful. Why? The way a source is cited determines
its weight as an authority.
There is an index of the EA Law Reports, HCB and other law reports which you can always make
use when searching for legal authorities.

CHALLENGES FACED WHEN CARRYING OUT LEGAL RESEARCH

1. Legal research is expensive. Some legal research materials are expensive i.e law books,
subscription charges to online case data bases e.t.c
2. Law sources are scarce.
3. Various statutes get amended thus making research work vague
4. Legal Research consumes time, i.e preparing dissertations take months.
5. Plagiarism.
NOTE: Find more challenges

ICT AND LEGAL RESEARCH.

Sources of ICT legal research:
a) Social media. Different social media platforms can be used as means of collecting legal
knowledge. For example, the face book page called “Barefoot Law” has greatly helped lay people
and lawyers in matters concerning legal information.
b) Legal Websites. E.g JUSTOR, JUSTIA e.t.c
c) Legal data bases. E.g ULII, SAFLII e.t.c
d) Legal blogs. For example, Nish’s law
e) E-books
f) Audio books

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g) Phone applications. E.g there are UG constitution apps e.t.c

Exercise: What is the difference between a website and a database?

Benefits of using ICT in Legal Research;

1) It eases research.
2) It is fast.
3) ICT offers a wide variety of legal information.
4) On internet, less popular legal ideas are given.
5) ICT offers up to date legal information (Latest legal information)
6) Can be interactive. i.e some social media platforms like Barefoot law on face book enables
people to interact with each other about legal issues.

Limitations of ICT in legal research;

1. Risk of error and inaccuracy. For example the case of Hesse v. Senyonga which was reported
online had errors in the text.
2. Crowd sourced websites like wikipedia
3. Unauthorized authors.
4. ICT legal research is expensive.
5. Link rot. i.e in case a legal website goes down, it may not easily be accessed.
6. Opportunistic editing.
7. Legitimization of the internet in general.
8. Ethical considerations.

EXAMPLES OF ICT USE IN LEGAL RESEARCH IN UGANDAN COURTS.

In Kwizera Eddie v. Attorney General, Justice Lillian Tibatemwa cited the online ‘Duhaime’s
law Dictionary’ for the phrase “costs follow the event”.

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In Mifumi (U) Ltd v. Attorney General, the court cited wikipedia for the definition of “bride
price.” In Mugarura v. Attorney General, the court cited wikipedia for the definition of “moral
character and integrity.”
In Oyoo Francis v. Olanya, Justice Stephan Mubiru cited wikipedia when directing the court to
an online article called ‘Lords Resistance Army Insurgency.’
In Arim Felix v. Stanbic Bank, Justice Lillian Tibatemwa cited wikipedia for the meaning of “An
entry into a suspense account may be a debit or a credit.”
Justice Odoki in the case of Paul Kawanga Ssemwogerere v. Attorney General stated that,
“….with modern electronic systems of legal research, relevant knowledge and skill is essential in
order to achieve successful results.”
Exercise: Look out for more examples on the use of ICT in the legal field

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LESSSON 4: LEGAL WRITING

Refer to a Book by Arthur Littleton, The Importance of Effective Legal writing in law Practice.

Language is the professional tool that enables a lawyer to communicate well with his audience so
language is an important aspect to be considered and to be given much weight so it is important to
learn on how you can effectively communicate with your audience also language will enable you
to put forward your argument with articulation. Legal writing is an art that should not be taken for
granted. The importance of writing has been displayed in articles, letters, journals, agreements,
essays, reports, court processes and so on. These legal writings help researchers in their legal work.
Writing is not an innate skill and thus, it has to be developed. A good legal writing should be
accurate, brief, clear, orderly and original.

PROBLEMS IN WRITING
• Poor planning bad schools
• Lack of care/ignorance
• Inability to capture and maintain the readers’ interest
• Lack of structure
• Poor grammar
Lawyer make more money by writing poorly:

IMPORTANT CLUES IN WRITING

Clarity: Arrange your words clearly, punctuate properly, Your writing should make a reader to
understand what you have written with minimum efforts, your statements should be clear and free
from ambiguity.
Simplicity: Use simple but relevant legal terminologies or language. Avoid long and complex
sentences unless it is necessary. Paragraphs or sub paragraphs.
(1) Use one idea in one sentence
(2) Avoid using difficult words
(3) Avoid technical jargons
Accurate and precision: Write something that is exact and free form errors, being very careful.
Persuasive: Try to convince your reader on what you are writing.

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“Every owner/lessee or person operating any industrial plant oil refinery chemical works saw mill
or other plant or works or any other person who discharges or throws or allows to be discharged
or thrown any noxious waste product sewage oil saw dust chemical or other matter or thing into a
river , stream or other water any part of which is interprovincial flows into any inter provincial
water or into any sea which has the effect of endangering the lives safety health or comfort of the
public commits an offence.”

1. The above sentence has many drafting imperfections.

2. Poor punctuation
3. Using so many words to mean the same thing ie industrial waste, water bodies
4. Repetitive use of the word OR
5. The sentence is too long,

WRITING: SKILLS
"In academic, we are not talking about sounding intelligent but rather getting your intelligent
point across Effective writing style depends on a combination of the following;

STYLES OF WRITING
1. Audience
Writers will adjust their style depending on the audience of writing: A text book is
different from a novel
In text book, writer rely on facts and provide statements with polemics it is in the use of
language that can convince

Active voice over the passive.

Remember it this way: if you’re active, you do things; if you’re passive, things are done
to you. It’s the same with subjects of sentences. In an active-voice construction, the subject
does something (The court dismissed the appeal). In a passive-voice construction,
something is done to the subject (The appeal was dismissed by the court).
The active voice typically has four advantages over the passive:
● It usually requires fewer words.
● It better reflects a chronologically ordered sequence (active: actor Action recipient of

● It makes the reader’s job easier because its syntax meets the English speaker’s
expectation that the subject of a sentence will perform the action of the verb.
● It makes the writing more vigorous and lively.

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Active voice
It leads to more concise and direct sentences. Use active voice as opposed to passive
voice.
Passive: The truck was loaded by the workmen
Active: The workmen loaded the truck

However sometimes passive voice may bring out the message better ie He was
murdered is stronger than somebody murdered him

Exercise (5 marks)

It is not necessary that an investment adviser’s compensation be paid directly by the person
receiving investment advisory services, but only that the investment adviser receive
compensation from some source for his or her services.

PUT IT SIMPLY

Although the investment adviser must be paid, the source of the payment does not matter.

So all the following sentences are passive:

1. In 1998, only ten executives were covered by Article 12.
2. Prospective investors are urged to consult their own tax advisers.
3. The 2001 Plan is intended to facilitate key employees in earning a greater degree of
ownership interest in the Company.

Active voice:
1. In 1998, Article 12 covered only ten executives.
2. We urge prospective investors to consult their own tax advisers. Consultation of tax
3. With our 2001 Plan, we intend to help key employees obtain a greater ownership interest
in the Company.

2. Type of writing
Be concise and avoid wordiness and unnecessary repetition that adds nothing to
meaning where the writer uses two words which mean the same things
All our hopes and dreams were fulfilled when…………………
First and foremost, I would like
Null and void
Terms and Condition

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Avoid using unnecessary words

• Example of a wordy sentence: Because the watch was inexpensive, he bought it.
Concise manner; He bought the watch because it was cheap:

3. Punctuation Writing style in influenced by punctuation

The writer should use punctuation in a wise manner to achieve the 'intended effect.
Punctuation used poorly could confuse the reader
Let’s eat grandma!
Let’s eat, grandma

Man eating chicken

Man-eating Chicken

I find inspiration in cooking my family and my dog

I find inspiration in cooking, my family, and my dog

A woman without her man is nothing

A woman: without her, man is nothing

4. WORD CHOICE
In writing, using the simple, more common known words is preferable
In literature it is the use of images and figurative language
Due to the fact that
In light of the fact that
On the grounds…….All these words can be replaced by because
or since

Sometimes there is use of inelegant expression eg

a, Not different instead of similar
b, Not the same instead of different -
c, Not allowed instead of prevent
d, Not admit instead of deny

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FORMS OF WRITING

There are many forms of writing such as reports, journals, research papers, articles, essay etc. Of
which articles and essays are quite commonly misinterpreted. However, there exists a fine line of
difference between the two, in the sense that articles are often backed by statistics, photographs,
facts and reports, which is not required in the case of an essay, as it is a fact-based opinion on the
topic.

An article is nothing but a piece of writing commonly found in newspapers or websites which
contain fact-based information on a specific topic. It is published with the aim of making the reader
aware of something and keeping them up to date.

An essay is a literary work, which often discusses ideas, experiences and concepts in a clear and
coherent way. It reflects the author’s personal view, knowledge and research on a specific topic.

Legal opinions are issued in letter form and express legal conclusions about and/or legal analysis
of a transaction or matter which are relied on by the addressee of the said opinions. The main
purpose of a legal opinion is to inform the addressee of the legal effect of a given transaction or
matter.

INDEPTH

1. Essay writing: It is a short piece of writing on a given subject that reflects the writer’s thoughts,
opinions and viewpoints on a particular matter. The different types of essay will be discussed
below.
2. Types of Writing:

 Descriptive Essay: It is used to present a picture of things or situations so that readers can
appreciate them as if they had seen or experienced them. The aim of descriptive essay is
for the writer to clearly describe what he has seen, felt or experienced. For example, if a
student is tasked by his teacher to write an essay describing a crime scene. The student

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must be able to describe both the physical and abstract state of the scene in a way that
readers can draw a mental picture of it as if they were there. Another example of a
descriptive essay is where A is tasked by B, his tutor to explain A’s favourite movie and
its impact on A.
 Narrative Essay: It is the orderly or chronological presentation of events as they occurred.
An example of narrative essay is when a student is tasked by his teacher to write on the
constitutional development of Uganda from 1922 to 1999. Cultures and customs of Uganda
by Kefa M. Otiso. It can be a story about personal experience

 Argumentative Essay: It is also known as opinion essay. A writer is expected to support

or oppose a position in writing and convince or persuade the readers to accept his
viewpoints. A good argumentative essay does not only rely on the writer’s thoughts or
opinions but it also makes use of facts and evidences to support its claims. Examples are:
writing about an institution like UCU having an online library as opposed to a physical
library.

 Expository Essay: It explains, illustrates, clarifies or explicate something in a way that it

becomes clear for readers. The purpose of the expository essay is to explain a topic in a
logical and straightforward manner. An example of expository essay is where a student is
expected to explain the concept of the rule of law or where a student is asked to write an
essay explaining how the computer has changed the lives of students.

Although, these essays are classified for convenience sakes, the writer might be required to make
use of two types of essay like using a bit of exposition in a narrative essay but it must be balanced.

Methods and Approaches in Writing

1. Choosing a topic: Sometimes writers are given a free hand to choose a topic of their choice
but the problem is how to develop the topic chosen. The following are factors that should guide
a writer in choosing a topic:

 The writer should choose from a topic he can learn from which broadens the scope of the
writer
 The writer should choose a topic in which he can easily find source materials to develop
the topic
 The writer should make sure he searches for specific points instead of generalities so as not
to lose focus.

A good topic must possess these attributes:

 It is correct if it provides adequate information on a topic

 It is complete if it is understandable to people in that field
 It is concise if it is a short detailed piece of writing.

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2. Preliminary Reading: reading about a topic and conducting a research on it to put it into
writing is very productive.

3. Reviewing or Re-thinking a Topic: a writer is expected to think clearly and reflectively

about a topic and ask questions which will be used to answer the essay.

4. 4. Identifying the basic question: the writer must identify the basic question in order to be
able to answer the essay.

5. Formulating the Research problem or question: the writer will use his major points to
answer the question

6. Testing the Idea: the writer is expected to test if the idea relates to the topic. The following
are the tests that can be used:

a.) Writing test: the writer must choose his words carefully, read what he has written, revise and
rearrange it

b.) Credibility test: the writer’s idea must be plausible and must be able to stand the test of time,

c.) Friendly colleague test: the writer must find someone to read and criticize his idea so that the
writer will be able to know the points to keep or cut out.

d.) Possibility test: can the writer meet the deadline?

7. Preparing the outline: outline helps in shaping the writer’s work. It is important before and
after writing.

8. Choosing materials: to get appropriate materials for a quick research, the writer needs to be
guided by the following factors:

a.) Get only materials on the subject matter of the research

b.) Get recently published materials

c.) Get materials that are classic and of high standard

9. Examining Your Sources: this is done in the following ways:

a.) By organizing reading time

b.) By reading selectively

c.)By reading responsibly

d.) By reading critically.

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8. Writing the Essay:

a.) First Draft: write extensively putting his idea into work without correcting anything

b.) Second Draft: revise the first draft and add points that have been missed

c) Third Draft: minimize words and remove unnecessary repetitions of words

d.) Fourth Draft: address the content and structure of his works like the punctuation, grammar,
and paragraphs until he is satisfied with the writing.

EXERCISE
Write a letter to the Dean Faculty of law requesting for an internship placement (5 marks)
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS ON GOOD WRITING

1. Introduction: it is the preface of the writer’s work. It is what keeps the readers glued to the
story.
2. Originality: although a writer gets his sources from other writer’s works, he must be careful
not to plagiarize them and must write it in his own way.
3. Clarity: the use of words, paragraphs and punctuation must be clear in the writing.
4. Brevity: the writing must be precise and concise and must contain only important details
5. Grammatical Expressions: good writing contains good grammar, simile, metaphors and
idioms which impresses the readers
6. Accuracy: a good writing must contain accurate points in order not to mislead the reader
7. Organization: a writer must organize his thoughts in his writing
8. Mechanical Accuracy: a writer must try not to make mistakes in tenses, punctuations,
spellings, capital letters, prepositions etc.
9. Conclusion: it is the final sentence in your essay that summarizes the whole points and proffers
solutions to problems.

ii. Styles Of Writing: there is no strict rule about styles. It usually depends on whether the
letter is meant to simply convey information or persuade the recipient to act or refrain from an
act.

iii. Analysis Of Socio Legal Issues And Application Of Legal Rules: an essay in legal writing
must contribute to social, economic, political, cultural, educational issues and many more. It must
picture problems and social realities in order to leave a good impression. When one is writing from
the standpoint t of a legal mind, one must not ignore important details.

For example, when one wants to write about the Fuel prices in Uganda, it would be a problem if it
does not address the social, political, economic and psychological factors that may have caused it.

Pound’s approach to the application of legal rules to social matter was somewhat infertile. He sees
legal rules as adjusting and reconciling conflicting interests. It simply means that law serves the

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interests of those that contribute to the good of the whole society. He recognizes the task of the
lawyer as that of a social engineer who formulates a programme of action, attempts to gear
individual and social needs to the valves of western

THE WRITING PROCESS

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Before writing a draft, develop an outline of the key items to be included in your dissertation.
Have someone else, preferably someone who is not well informed about the topic read your draft
to see that you have written the draft in an understandable fashion.
The most common errors in legal writing are as follows:
 There is no research question or the question is too broad.
 The writing is overly descriptive.
 Unsupported conclusions.
 Personal opinions and views are included throughout the paper.
 Weak structure.
 Poor presentation (i.e., grammatical and spelling errors).
 Poor citation and referencing.

Assessment Criteria:
 Comprehension – You should demonstrate a thorough understanding of the law in the area
of research undertaken in your study.
 Analysis – Demonstrate that you are able to analyze the issues presented by the problem
by breaking them down into component parts and examining them in detail.
 Your analysis should address and answer the following questions:
 What are the goals of the laws and or relevant cases in your study?
 Do the laws or cases achieve the goals? What are the failures, the successes of the law as
concerns the problem in your study?
 If your paper is a comparative analysis of cases or statutes, then discuss how the cases or
statutes are different, similar, what changes should be made based on an analysis of the
facts related to the cases and or the statutes?

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 Final presentation – The entire document should be well written including correct margins,
pagination, spacing, citations, and inclusion of supporting documentation in the
appendices.

Identifying the Topic

The dissertation offers the student researcher the opportunity for a substantial research experience.
Unfortunately, students sometimes take the first idea that comes to mind or seems plausible, and
settle on that idea. For the law dissertation this is especially unfortunate, as the researcher may not
have an adequate understanding of the facts and legal issues involved from an initial assessment.
It is important for the legal researcher to explore possible topics from many legal angles before
finally choosing the topic. This is to ensure that the legal issue is viable and that the facts of the
case are known to the fullest extent possible. Uncovering the facts related to legal issues will help
to reveal potential problems for research.
Sources for topics:
 Comparative Law
 Casebooks and treatises.
 Current news articles (e.g., The Economist, The East African, Financial Times,
 The Independent, local media (New Vision, Monitor Newspapers) etc)
 New Cases or new laws.
 Empirical Studies (check recommended areas for future research)

Conducting research:
It is best to begin reading leading treatises in the area (i.e., a formal written work that extensively
deals with a subject area systematically (e.g., Halsbury’s Law Reports).
Conduct online searches (Westlaw, Lexis, Worldlii.org, Bailii.org, Ulii.org, Safli.org and others)
to identify current information in the subject area.

Ask the law reference desk in the Library for the names of law databases available for research at
the library and request the appropriate login information if necessary.

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Research reports and articles written by members of organizations such as NGO’s, international
and government organizations. These organizations often make reports available for download for
free on the websites.

To begin the process of identifying a topic, think about issues which need a resolution.
Questions to ask:
 What is the most glaring problem facing my community, a group of people, or society?
 What legal cases have been in the news, have been discussed in class, undertaken by
various legal advocacy groups, etc.?
 What issues am I passionate about? Are there legal issues and problems that might be
related to these issues?
 After generating several good possibilities, analyze each potential research problem against
the following pre-requisites for problem development:

 The problem must be current. That is, there must be evidence that the problem presently
exists. It cannot be something that happened several years ago or that could happen years
from now.

 The problem must be manageable. The problem you plan to research cannot be too large
to handle. For instance, a student cannot analyze all of the issues related to land reform or
government corruption. You have a limited time frame in which to complete the
dissertation paper. Seek to make the issue as concise as possible.

Formulating the Topic Statement

After you identify a possible problem for the focus of your research, the next step is the formulation
of a topic statement. A topic statement:
Is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph (generally the first or second
sentence), that tells your reader what your paper is going to address. The rest of the paper—the
body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence through facts, cases, statutes, etc., that will
persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation, your analysis and your conclusion about the
problem and possible solutions.

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It is a road map for your document; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest
of your research paper.
Its an assertion, not a statement of fact or an observation.
Takes a stand rather than announcing a subject.

Example of an announcement vs. taking a stand:

Announcement: This paper relates to the difficulties experienced by experts in addressing the
complex deforestation issues in Uganda.
Taking a Stand: Deforestation issues in Uganda are complex, and are therefore difficult for
experts to address.

Start with more “clear cut” sections first, rather than with the Introduction, since it may be the
most difficult part to write.
Create a Word document with headings that reflect your dissertation topic.
As you find relevant research (cases, abstracts, citations, articles, etc.), cut and paste relevant
citations from this research and put them under the correct headings in the Word document.
This way you will develop an extensive reference section, and it will assist you in locating that
case you saw one month ago somewhere, that is now relevant to your research.
Ask colleagues to form a writing group that you can use to exchange ideas, drafts, and experiences.
As lonely as it may seem sometimes, writing is a social activity.

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FOR READING PURPOSES GUIDE TO CITATION, BIBLIOGRAPHY AND

REFRENCES

A good website for understanding APA or MLA assistance Is http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl

MLA (Modern Language Association) is for arts and humanities. It helps you to break down citing
paintings, books, and other literature. APA (American Psychological Association) is designed for
technical works found in social sciences. This format makes citing journals and technical reports
a breeze. Referencing, In-text Citation and Format

MLA
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.mla

When a book has two authors, order the authors in the same way they are presented in the book.
Start by listing the first name that appears on the book in last name, first name format; subsequent
author names appear in normal order (first name last name format).

Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. Penguin, 1987.

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Allyn and
Bacon, 2000.

If there are three or more authors, list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for
"and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names. (Note that there is a period after “al” in
“et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).
Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding
the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, 2004.

BOOK BY A CORPORATE AUTHOR OR ORGANIZATION

A corporate author may include a commission, a committee, a government agency, or a group that
does not identify individual members on the title page.
List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the
beginning of the entry.

American Allergy Association. Allergies in Children. Random House, 1998.

When the author and publisher are the same, skip the author, and list the title first. Then, list the
corporate author only as the publisher.

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Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.

BOOK WITH NO AUTHOR

List by title of the book. Incorporate these entries alphabetically just as you would with works that
include an author name. For example, the following entry might appear between entries of works
written by Dean, Shaun and Forsythe, Jonathan.
Encyclopedia of Indiana. Somerset, 1993.
Remember that for an in-text (parenthetical) citation of a book with no author, you should provide
the name of the work in the signal phrase and the page number in parentheses. You may also use
a shortened version of the title of the book accompanied by the page number. For more information
see the In-text Citations for Print Sources with No Known Author section of In-text Citations: The
Basics.

A TRANSLATED BOOK
If you want to emphasize the work rather than the translator, cite as you would any other book.
Add “translated by” and follow with the name(s) of the translator(s).
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.
Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.
If you want to focus on the translation, list the translator as the author. In place of the author’s
name, the translator’s name appears. His or her name is followed by the label, “translator.” If the
author of the book does not appear in the title of the book, include the name, with a “By” after the
title of the book and before the publisher. Note that this type of citation is less common and should
only be used for papers or writing in which translation plays a central role.
Howard, Richard, translator. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of
Reason. By Michel Foucault, Vintage-Random House, 1988.

REPUBLISHED BOOK
Books may be republished due to popularity without becoming a new edition. New editions are
typically revisions of the original work. For books that originally appeared at an earlier date and
that have been republished at a later one, insert the original publication date before the publication
information.
For books that are new editions (i.e. different from the first or other editions of the book), see An
Edition of a Book below.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. 1990. Routledge, 1999.
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.

EDITION OF A BOOK

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There are two types of editions in book publishing: a book that has been published more than once
in different editions and a book that is prepared by someone other than the author (typically an
editor).
A Subsequent Edition
Cite the book as you normally would, but add the number of the edition after the title.
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed.,
Pearson, 2004.
A Work Prepared by an Editor
Cite the book as you normally would, but add the editor after the title with the label "edited by."
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre, edited by Margaret Smith, Oxford UP, 1998.
Note that the format for citing sources with important contributors with editor-like roles
follows the same basic template:
...adapted by John Doe...
Finally, in the event that the source features a contributor that cannot be described with a past-
tense verb and the word "by" (e.g., "edited by"), you may instead use a noun followed by a comma,
like so: ...guest editor, Jane Smith...

ANTHOLOGY OR COLLECTION (E.G. COLLECTION OF ESSAYS)

To cite the entire anthology or collection, list by editor(s) followed by a comma and "editor" or,
for multiple editors, "editors." This sort of entry is somewhat rare. If you are citing a particular
piece within an anthology or collection (more common), see A Work in an Anthology, Reference,
or Collection below.
Hill, Charles A., and Marguerite Helmers, editors. Defining Visual Rhetorics. Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, 2004.
Peterson, Nancy J., editor. Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches. Johns Hopkins
UP, 1997.

A WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY, REFERENCE, OR COLLECTION

Works may include an essay in an edited collection or anthology, or a chapter of a book. The basic
form is for this sort of citation is as follows:
Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection, edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher,
Year, Page range of entry.
Some examples:
Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One
to One, edited by Ben Rafoth, Heinemann, 2000, pp. 24-34.
Swanson, Gunnar. "Graphic Design Education as a Liberal Art: Design and Knowledge in the
University and The 'Real World.'" The Education of a Graphic Designer, edited by Steven Heller,
Allworth Press, 1998, pp. 13-24.
Note on Cross-referencing Several Items from One Anthology: If you cite more than one essay
from the same edited collection, MLA indicates you may cross-reference within your works cited

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list in order to avoid writing out the publishing information for each separate essay. You should
consider this option if you have several references from a single text. To do so, include a separate
entry for the entire collection listed by the editor's name as below:
Rose, Shirley K, and Irwin Weiser, editors. The Writing Program Administrator as Researcher.
Heinemann, 1999.
Then, for each individual essay from the collection, list the author's name in last name, first name
format, the title of the essay, the editor's last name, and the page range:
L'Eplattenier, Barbara. "Finding Ourselves in the Past: An Argument for Historical Work on
WPAs." Rose and Weiser, pp. 131-40.
Peeples, Tim. "'Seeing' the WPA With/Through Postmodern Mapping." Rose and Weiser, pp. 153-
67.
Please note: When cross-referencing items in the works cited list, alphabetical order should be
maintained for the entire list.

Poem or Short Story Examples:

Burns, Robert. "Red, Red Rose." 100 Best-Loved Poems, edited by Philip Smith, Dover, 1995, p.
26.
Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by
Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.
If the specific literary work is part of the author's own collection (all of the works have the same
author), then there will be no editor to reference:
Whitman, Walt. "I Sing the Body Electric." Selected Poems, Dover, 1991, pp. 12-19.
Carter, Angela. "The Tiger's Bride." Burning Your Boats: The Collected Stories, Penguin,
1995, pp. 154-69.

ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE BOOK (E.G. ENCYCLOPEDIAS, DICTIONARIES)

For entries in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works, cite the entry name as you
would any other work in a collection but do not include the publisher information. Also, if the
reference book is organized alphabetically, as most are, do not list the volume or the page number
of the article or item.
"Ideology." The American Heritage Dictionary. 3rd ed. 1997.

A MULTIVOLUME WORK
When citing only one volume of a multivolume work, include the volume number after the work's
title, or after the work's editor or translator.
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.
When citing more than one volume of a multivolume work, cite the total number of volumes in
the work. Also, be sure in your in-text citation to provide both the volume number and page
number(s) (see "Citing Multivolume Works" on our in-text citations resource.)
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980. 4 vols.

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If the volume you are using has its own title, cite the book without referring to the other volumes
as if it were an independent publication.
Churchill, Winston S. The Age of Revolution. Dodd, 1957.

AN INTRODUCTION, PREFACE, FOREWORD, OR AFTERWORD

When citing an introduction, a preface, a foreword, or an afterword, write the name of the author(s)
of the piece you are citing. Then give the name of the part being cited, which should not be
italicized or enclosed in quotation marks; in italics, provide the name of the work and the name of
the author of the introduction/preface/foreword/afterword. Finish the citation with the details of
publication and page range.
Farrell, Thomas B. Introduction. Norms of Rhetorical Culture, by Farrell, Yale UP, 1993, pp.
1-13.
If the writer of the piece is different from the author of the complete work, then write the full name
of the principal work's author after the word "By." For example, if you were to cite Hugh Dalziel
Duncan’s introduction of Kenneth Burke’s book Permanence and Change, you would write the
entry as follows:
Duncan, Hugh Dalziel. Introduction. Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose, by
Kenneth Burke, 1935, 3rd ed., U of California P, 1984, pp. xiii-xliv.

BOOK PUBLISHED BEFORE 1900

Original copies of books published before 1900 are usually defined by their place of publication
rather than the publisher. Unless you are using a newer edition, cite the city of publication where
you would normally cite the publisher.
Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions. Boston, 1863.

THE BIBLE
Italicize “The Bible” and follow it with the version you are using. Remember that your in-text
(parenthetical citation) should include the name of the specific edition of the Bible, followed by
an abbreviation of the book, the chapter and verse(s). (See Citing the Bible at In-Text Citations:
The Basics.)
The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.
The Bible. The New Oxford Annotated Version, 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2001.
The New Jerusalem Bible. Edited by Susan Jones, Doubleday, 1985.

A GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION
Cite the author of the publication if the author is identified. Otherwise, start with the name of the
national government, followed by the agency (including any subdivisions or agencies) that serves
as the organizational author. Ugandan Publications/ government documents are typically
published by the Government Printing Office, Uganda Printing and Publishing.

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Uganda, The Judiciary,Committee on Appeal cases. Timely hearing of matters . Government

Printing Office, 2007.
OR United States, Government Accountability Office. Climate Change: EPA and DOE
Should Do More to Encourage Progress Under Two Voluntary Programs. Government Printing
Office, 2006.

A PAMPHLET
Cite the title and publication information for the pamphlet just as you would a book without an
author. Pamphlets and promotional materials commonly feature corporate authors (commissions,
committees, or other groups that does not provide individual group member names). If the
pamphlet you are citing has no author, cite as directed below. If your pamphlet has an author or a
corporate author, put the name of the author (last name, first name format) or corporate author in
the place where the author name typically appears at the beginning of the entry. (See also Books
by a Corporate Author or Organization above.)
Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System. American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, 2006.
Your Rights Under California Welfare Programs. California Department of Social Services,
2007.

DISSERTATIONS AND MASTER'S THESES

Dissertations and master's theses may be used as sources whether published or not. Unlike previous
editions, MLA 8 specifies no difference in style for published/unpublished works.
The main elements of a dissertation citation are the same as those for a book: author name(s), title
(italicized), and publication date. Conclude with an indication of the document type (e.g., "PhD
dissertation"). The degree-granting institution may be included before the document type (though
this is not required). If the dissertation was accessed through an online repository, include it as the
second container after all the other elements.
Bishop, Karen Lynn. Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI
Comprehensive Campaign. 2002. Purdue University, PhD dissertation.
Bile, Jeffrey. Ecology, Feminism, and a Revised Critical Rhetoric: Toward a Dialectical
Partnership. 2005. Ohio University, PhD dissertation.
Mitchell, Mark. The Impact of Product Quality Reducing Events on the Value of Brand-Name
Capital: Evidence from Airline Crashes and the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings. 1987. PhD
dissertation. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

APA Last name, Initials. (Year). Book title (Editor/translator initials, Last name, Ed. or Trans.)
(Edition). Publisher.

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Citation Examples
Citing Specific Sources:
The preferred methods of referencing different types of work are set out below:
References
Alphabetical by author.
Cases and Statutes are listed separately but also in alphabetical order.
When you obtain a passage or idea from a source other than the original, you must cite both sources
(e.g. A . . . .. . as quoted in B …….) Do not cite only the original.
A: Book
Author’s family name, initial (year of publication) Title of Book, Edition Number (if other than
first edition), Publisher, Place of Publication.
Examples:
Maskus, K. (2000) Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy, Institute for International
Economics, Washington DC.
Trebilcock, M. and Howse, R. (1999) The Regulation of International Trade, 2nd Edition,
Routledge, London.

B: Chapter in Edited Volume

Author’s Family name, Initial. (Year of Publication) “Title of Chapter” in - Editor’s Family name,
Initial. (e.d.) Title of Book, Publisher, place of Publication.
Examples:
Kauffer, E. (1990) “The Regulation of New Product Development in the Drug Industry”,
Majone, G. (ed) Deregulation or Re- regulation? Regulatory Reform in Europe and the United
States, Pinter, London.
Merges, R. and Nelson, R. (1992) “Market Structure and Technical Advance: The Role of Patent
Scope Decisions”, in Jorde, T. and Teece, D. (eds) Antitrust, Innovation, and Competitiveness,
Oxford University Press, Oxford
C: Article
Author’s Family name, Initial. (Year of Publication) “Title of Article”, Volume Number of
Journal, Name of Journal, Numbers of first and last Pages of Article.
Example:
Jackson, J. (1998) “Dispute Settlement and the WTO: Emerging Problems”, 1 Journal of
International Economic Law 329-351.
D: Published Report of Other Paper
Author’s Family Name, Initial. (Year of Publication) Title of Report/Paper, Document Number
(if applicable), Publisher, Place of Publication.
Example:
Primo Braga, C. Fink, C. and Paz Sepulveda, C. (2000) Intellectual property Rights and
Economic Development, World Bank Discussion Paper No. 412, World Bank,
Washington DC.

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• Transparency International (2001) Global Corruption Report 2001, Transparency

International, Berlin <http:// www.globalcorruptionreport.org /, visited 18th December
2001>
Note: Where published reports and other documents have been accessed via the Internet, the
full web address and the date when the web site was visited must be included in the reference
as shown in the example above.

E: Case Report
Methods of referencing case reports vary between jurisdictions. It is advisable that you adopt the
system of citation used in the jurisdictions where the relevant case was decided. The jurisdiction
and the name of the court in which the case was decided must be clearly indicated in any reference.
In most situations, it will be sufficient to include the following information:
_ Title of the case or names of the parties (underlined).
_ Date when the case was reported
_ Official case number (if any)
_ Name of the series of reports in which the report is published (the name may be abbreviated
using the standard abbreviation, e.g A.C. for Appeal Cases in England and Wales)
_ Volume number of the series of reports in which the report is published
_ Page number of the first page of the report.
Examples:
• Lubbe v Cape Plc (No. 2) [2000] 1 W.L.R. 1545 (House of Lords, United Kingdom).
• Shevill v. Presse Alliance SA, C-68/93 [1995] ECR 1-415 (European Court of Justice).
• Quality King Distributors, Inc. v. L’anza Research Intern, Inc., 118 S. Ct. 1125 (1998)
(Supreme Court, United States).
• Canada – Term of Patent Protection, AB-2000-7 (2000) WT/DS170/1B/R (World Trade
Organization, Appellate Body)
Note: Further guidance on the citation of United States case law is given by Peter W. Martin of
Cornell Law School in his Introduction to Basic Legal Citation - available online at:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/citation.table.html . Martin’s approach is based on - The Blue
Book: A Uniform System of Citation published by the Harvard Law Review Association.

F: Academic Conference Paper/Workshop presentation

Presenter/Author’s Family Name, Initial. Title of Paper, Workshop/Conference organizers,
Theme, place and date of workshop.
Examples:
• Lundeberg, H. The Natural Resources Policy in Uganda: Oil policy – Lessons from
Norway and Bolivia, A Paper presented at a Public Debate organized by the Uganda Development
Policy Management Forum (UPDMF) on Oil and Land Policies in Uganda, held at the Uganda
Management Institute on the 26th of August, 2010.

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• Kyomuhendo, B. Improving efficiency and effectiveness of the Uganda Registration Services

Bureau, A paper presented at a Conference marking 20 years of Existence organized by the Uganda
Law Reform Commission, on the theme Doing Business in Uganda, held at Speke Resort Hotel
Munyonyo, 21st – 22nd October 2010.

G: Website
Provide the full web site address (i.e URL – Universal Resource Locator) and the date visited.
Example:
http://www.consumersinternational.org, visited 20th December 2001.
Use of Abbreviations
• Supra = Above. Supra note 9 refers to the work previously cited in note 9.
• Infra = Below. Infra note 9 refers to the work cited subsequently in note 9.
• Op. Cit.= work already cited
• Ibid.= same source as the immediately preceding reference
LL.M Dissertation proposal flowchart
Background
Statement of the Problem
Significance
Justification
Scope
Find a lacuna (hole) Research Question
Objectives of the Study Look for debates and write-ups
Selection and access
Human Subjects review
Research design
Research procedures
Kind of data
Collection of data
Perceived weaknesses
Alternatives
Chapter Synopsis

OSCOLA is the abbreviated name for Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities. It’s
the style many students use for referencing authorities, legislation and other legal materials. It is
widely used in law schools and by journal and book publishers both in the UK and abroad.
The fourth edition of OSCOLA is available to purchase in book stores and online, with a
downloadable reference guide available from the University of Oxford, Faculty of Law website.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' (Year Published) Volume number Publication Title <http://Website
URL> accessed Date Accessed

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Example:
Sherman S, 'Perils Of The Princess: Gender And Genre In Video Games' (1997) 56 Western
Folklore <http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1500277> accessed 23 October 2014
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' (Year Published) Volume number Publication Title
<http://Website-Url> accessed 10 October 2013.
Example:
But now the player, a product of the generation to grow up with television, could, in a sense, jump
into the screen realm and control a heretofore uncontrollable television-like image and master his
or her own fate Sharon R. Sherman, 'Perils Of The Princess: Gender And Genre In Video Games'
(1997) 56 Western Folklore <http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1500277> accessed 23 October 2014.

How to cite Film or Movie in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a film or movie using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Title (Publisher Year Published)
Example:
The Footy Show (2013)
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Title (Publisher Year Published).
Example:
annoyingly gratuitous act The Footy Show (2013).

How to cite an Online image or video in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an online image or video using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' <http://Website URL> accessed Date Accessed
Example:
Boing Boing, 'Shepard Fairey + The Obama Poster (Boing Boing)'
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk3TI3QHUgk> accessed 3 August 2014

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In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' <http://Website-Url> accessed 10 October 2013.
Example:
It’s much easier to be critic and hate on things, than it is to stick your neck out for something
Boing Boing, 'Shepard Fairey + The Obama Poster (Boing Boing)'
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk3TI3QHUgk> accessed 3 August 2014.

How to cite a Website in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a website using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' (Year Published) <http://Website URL> accessed Date Accessed
Example:
Www2.southeastern.edu, 'Random And Systematic Error' (2014)
<https://www2.southeastern.edu/Academics/Faculty/rallain/plab193/labinfo/Error_Analysis/05_
Random_vs_Systematic.html> accessed 17 June 2014
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' (Year Published) <http://Website-Url> accessed 10
October 2013.
Example:
“statistical fluctuations in the measured data due to precision limitations… usually a result of the
experimenter’s inability to take the same measurement in exactly the same way to get the exact
same number” Www2.southeastern.edu, 'Random And Systematic Error' (2014)
<https://www2.southeastern.edu/Academics/Faculty/rallain/plab193/labinfo/Error_Analysis/05_
Random_vs_Systematic.html> accessed 17 June 2014.

Additional OSCOLA style Citation Examples

How to cite a Blog in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a blog using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' <http://Website URL> accessed Date Accessed

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Example:
Quintero S, 'DESIGNING AND BUILDING GREAT DASHBOARDS - 6 GOLDEN RULES TO
SUCCESSFUL DASHBOARD DESIGN' <https://www.geckoboard.com/blog/building-great-
dashboards-6-golden-rules-to-successful-dashboard-design/> accessed 20 October 2014
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' <http://Website-Url> accessed 10 October 2013.
Example:
A strategic dashboard should provide the executive team with a high-level overview of the state
of the business together with the opportunities the business faces. Sofia Quintero, 'DESIGNING
AND BUILDING GREAT DASHBOARDS - 6 GOLDEN RULES TO SUCCESSFUL
DASHBOARD DESIGN' <https://www.geckoboard.com/blog/building-great-dashboards-6-
golden-rules-to-successful-dashboard-design/> accessed 20 October 2014.

How to cite a Court case in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a court case using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Title [Year Published] Location, Volume number Document Title/Name (Location)
Example:
The Trial Transcript in Crown v Lindy and Michael Chamberlain [1982] Darwin Court House
(Darwin Court House)
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Title [Year Published] Location, Volume number Document Title/Name (Location).
Example:
'I saw no evidence on any of these garments to suggest that any member of the canine family was
involved. I cannot say anything about dingoes. I speak about the canine family in general.' He
also made this statement ‘There is evidence to suggest it was killed in another method. It suggests
there was an incised wound around the neck. In other words, a cut throat.' The Trial Transcript in
Crown v Lindy and Michael Chamberlain [1982] Darwin Court House (Darwin Court House).

How to cite a Dictionary entry in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a dictionary entry using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List

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Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' <http://Website URL> accessed Date Accessed
Example:
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tuberculosis?s=t> accessed 8 August 2014
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' <http://Website-Url> accessed 10 October 2013.
Example:
Tuberculosis <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tuberculosis?s=t> accessed 8 August 2014.

How to cite an E-book or PDF in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an e-book or pdf using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, Title (Publisher Year Published) <http://Website URL> accessed Date
Accessed
Example:
Reardon C and Dowton P, Design For Climate (1st edn, 2013) <
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, Title (Publisher Year Published) <http://Website-Url>
accessed 10 October 2013.

How to cite an Edited book in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an edited book using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, Title (Publisher Year Published)
Example:
blirsz B, The Wars (1st edn, 2014)
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.

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Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, Title (Publisher Year Published).

How to cite an Email in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an email using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' (Year Published)
Example:
Brakus J to Marlene Straube, 'The Brand Experience Scale - Data Evaluation Ambiguities' (2014)
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' (Year Published).
Example:
subjects may have problems when using the scale if asking them to evaluate a specific brand on a
specific experiential item does not make sense to them Josko Brakus to Marlene Straube, 'The
Brand Experience Scale - Data Evaluation Ambiguities' (2014).

How to cite an Encyclopedia article in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an encyclopedia article using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title', Publication Title (Publisher Year Published)
Example:
'Venus' (1st edn, Micha F Lindemans)
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title', Publication Title (Publisher Year Published).
Example:
The Roman goddess of love and beauty, but originally a vegetation goddess and patroness of
gardens and vineyards. 'Venus' (1st edn, Micha F Lindemans).

How to cite an Interview in OSCOLA style

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Use the following template to cite an interview using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Interview with Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' (Year Published)
Example:
James Robertson, Interview with John Moriarty, 'Telephone Call' (2014)
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Interview with Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' (Year Published).
Example:
whoever you are, whatever race you are, you need to put everything into your sport and you will
get the most out of it, it doesn’t matter where you come from. Just put the best you can in and you
do what you have to do to achieve what you want. James Robertson, Interview with John Moriarty,
'Telephone Call' (2014).

How to cite a Magazine in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a magazine using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' [Year Published] Publication Title <http://Website URL> accessed Date
Accessed
Example:

In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' [Year Published] Publication Title <http://Website-
Url> accessed 10 October 2013.
Example:

How to cite a Newspaper in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a newspaper using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.

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Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' Publication Title (Year Published) <http://Website URL> accessed
Date Accessed
Example:
Nossiter A, 'Ebola Epidemic Worsening, Sierra Leone Expands Quarantine Restrictions' The
New York Times (2014) <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/world/africa/ebola-epidemic-
sierra-leone-quarantine.html> accessed 2 October 2014
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' Publication Title (Year Published) <http://Website-
Url> accessed 10 October 2013.
Example:
"...nearly all of the county’s 14 districts are now either under total or partial quarantine..." Adam
Nossiter, 'Ebola Epidemic Worsening, Sierra Leone Expands Quarantine Restrictions' The New
York Times (2014) <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/world/africa/ebola-epidemic-sierra-
leone-quarantine.html> accessed 2 October 2014.

How to cite a Podcast in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a podcast using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' (Publication Title, Year Published) <http://Website URL> accessed
Date Accessed
Example:
Corp Author, 'The Title Of The Episode' (The name of the podcast, 2014)
<http://podcasts.com/jghadjghadja/> accessed 27 October 2014
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' (Publication Title, Year Published) <http://Website-
Url> accessed 10 October 2013.
Example:
Sample test for the podcast manual citation :) Corp Author, 'The Title Of The Episode' (The
name of the podcast, 2014) <http://podcasts.com/jghadjghadja/> accessed 27 October 2014.

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How to cite a Song in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a song using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Author Surname A, 'Title' <http://Website URL> accessed Date Accessed
Example:
Ruth R, 'The Ballad Of The Factory Fire'
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Author Forename Author Surname, 'Title' <http://Website-Url> accessed 10 October 2013.
Example:
There were no comforts, no fresh air, no light to sew thereby Ruth Ruth, 'The Ballad Of The
Factory Fire'.
How to cite The Bible in OSCOLA style
Use the following template to cite The Bible using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Title (Publisher Year Published)
Example:
The Bible (2014)
In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Title (Publisher Year Published).
Example:
Do to others as you would have them do to you. The Bible (2014).

How to cite a TV Show in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a TV Show using the OSCOLA citation style.
Reference List
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Template:
Broadcaster, 'Title' (Year Published)
Example:
BBC, 'BBC NEWS' (1989)

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In-text citation
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
Template:
Broadcaster, 'Title' (Year Published).
Example:
The Berlin Wall has been breached after nearly three decades keeping East and West Berliners
apart.
At midnight East Germany's Communist rulers gave permission for gates along the Wall to be
opened after hundreds of people converged on crossing points. BBC, 'BBC NEWS' (1989).

Manage all your references in one place

Create projects, add notes, cite directly from the browser and scan books’ barcodes with a mobile
app.
Sign up to Cite This For Me – the ultimate reference management tool.

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LESSON 5: CITATION

Citation is a type of reference which informs a reader that certain material from your work came
from another source.

Or it is the practice of acknowledging and referring to authoritative documents and sources. The
most common sources of authority cited are court decisions (cases), statutes, regulations,
government documents, treaties, and scholarly writing.
A system used by legal professionals to identify past court decisions, either from law reports or in
a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. Case citations are
formatted differently in different jurisdictions, but generally contain the same key information.
It is also a language of abbreviations and special terms.
While such language creates difficulties for lay readers, it reduces the space consumed by the often
numerous references.
As you become an experienced reader of law writing, you will learn to follow a line of argument
straight through the many citations embedded in it.
Even so, citations are a bother until the reader wishes to follow one.
The fundamental trade-off that underlies any citation scheme is one between providing full
information about the referenced work and keeping the text as clean and clear (uncluttered) as
possible.
Standard abbreviations and codes help achieve a reasonable compromise of these competing
interests.
A reference properly written in "legal citation" strives to do at least three things, within limited
space:
Identify the document and document part to which the writer is referring;

There are various ways on how we can cite some cases.

CITATIONS OF LAW UGANDA

There are three ways of citing the statutes

• Using short title and the year example money laundering Act, 2006
• Using short title, year and cap number example money laundering Act, 2006, [cap 423]
• Using cap number and year example [cap 458 R.E 2002].

CITATION OF LAWS IN ENGLAND

By short title, which includes the calendar year example the fatal accidents Act 1846 N.B for Acts
passed before 1963 they had a comma in the short title before the date, in 1962 a change was made
and the comma was dropped it seems sensible also to drop the comma in pre 1963 Acts as well.

By the regnal year and the chapter example 9&10 vict. c. 93 it means that an Act received the royal
assent in the session of parliament beginning in the 9th year of Queen Victoria and concluded in

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her 10th year, being the 93rd statute passed in that session ie Human Tissue Act 1961(9 and 10
Eliz 2, 54). Look out for Acts made in the 25th year King Edward III 25 Edw 3 stt 5, c 2)

Citation by a compromised of the two, example The Fatal accidents Act 1846 [C. 93]

LAW REPORTS- What is a law report

These are reports of more important cases that have significant legal importance and which have
been decided by the superior courts in the judicial Hierarchy. For the case of Tanzania are the
decisions of the High court and Court of Appeal. In Uganda, there is a law reporting department
is in the Judiciary. Works hand in hand with ULII

The importance of dates in case citation:

As a reference point, dates are important whether in law, social or natural sciences.
They enable a researcher and reader to find or know the source of information.

There are different methods of citation in law.

The square bracket
Round bracket
The rationale in the use of these methods
A date in a square bracket constitutes an essential part of the reference because of the reports being
published may be in more than one volume. (1 EALR, 2 EALR etc)
Whereas in a round bracket, dates may not be essential. This is common in the use of journals as
sources of references.
The square bracket is the most used today, though recent development also used serialization
citations.
LDC law reports are serialized like (1999-2000) HCB
Serialized citations are commonly used when referring to periodicals.

Parties
Law reports as a rule always start with the name of the accuser. For instance in criminal law,
Uganda v Kanyama is how a criminal case citation is made.

In civil litigation, it is usually the plaintiff or the petitioner who appears first: Kifalu v Musege.

This however changes in appeals: the appellant appears first and then respondent regardless of
who was the petitioner. However, in England, the modern view is to leave the appellants appear in
the format as in court of first instance. This is not the case in East Africa.

There are special cases which have a different citation not necessarily starting with the name of
the petitioner.
Cases of administration of deceased’s estates in England and judicial review, which is different in
Uganda.

In England petitions for administration of estates begin with Re: which refers to the matter of the
deceased person or cases involving minors. (Re H and others (minors) [1996] 1 All ER 1.

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In Uganda are cited as any other civil suit with the names of the parties petitioning and children
are cited as follows:
In the Matter of Joseph Benjamin Baugh (an infant) and In the Matter of an Application for legal
guardianship by Marcia and Russel Baugh. High Court CV-F (family)C(court)-4 of 2003

This was an application for guardianship.

Adoption cases are cited as High Court Misc.Appl. No. 20 of 2003

Petitions for judicial review in Uganda are cited as miscellaneous causes. For example Kabenge v
Uganda Law Society & Anor (MISC. CAUSE NO. 254 OF 2013) [2014] UGHCCD 9 (23 January
2014)

THE REPUBLIC O F UGANDA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF UGANDA AT KAMPALA
CIVIL DIVISION
MISC. CAUSE NO. 254 OF 2013
IN THE MATTER OF APPLICATION FOR PREROGATIVE ORDERS BY WAY OF
JUDICIAL REVIEW
BETWEEN
SIMON TENDO KABENGE ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: APPLICANT
VERSUS
1. UGANDA LAW SOCIETY
2. RUTH SEBATINDIRA :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: RESPONDENT

Use of authorities
Primary sources are the principle sources of authorities though secondary sources as text books,
periodicals and reports with important legal principles may be used.

Reading lists do not have only cases and statutes, but have text books, journals and reports which
can sources of authority.

CRITERIA OR HINTS FOR CITING A CASE IN A LAW REPORT

It should be a decision that introduces a new principal example BiHawa Mohammed V. Seif
+Ally
If a case modifies an existing principal
If a case comes to solve a conflict between judgment or decisions that were existing etc.
(A) LAW REPORT FROM ENGLAND
Why law reports from England? The major reason is because of
-the reception clause article 17(2) then was replaced by JALA ……
-so as to get principal from common law
-just to get persuasive authorities made by courts in England

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HISTORY OF LAW REPORTS IN ENGLAND

-A nominate law report is a report whereby there is an initial letter of the reporter.
I=this history may be divided into two periods
Pre 1865
Post 1865
Pre 1865: before 1865 law reports in England were not centralized, they were chiefly buy private
reporters under their own names ( nominate reports) example Ramsey V. Webb 1842 c.m. there
were some hundreds of different series though many of them run only for a short time most of
them were reprinted in a series known as the English reports ( ER )

Post 1865, in this time there was established an official body known as The Incorporated Council
for Law Reporting. At present they are published in 3 series
The Queens bench division cited as 1975 [2QB 100]
Chancel division cited as 1975 [ 1Ch. 100]
The family division cited as 1975 [Fam. 100]
N.B previously there were 11 series but in 1873 things changed after the introduction of the
Judicature Act 1873 which unified the common law courts and the Chancery to form the High
court.

(B) LAW REPORTS FROM EAST AFRICA

It began in 1897 in Kenya in a series known as East African Protectorate Law reports. It began in
Kenya because there was a privy council. This was a committee in Britain which played the role
of courts and used to hear appeals all over the world in British colonies. The 1922-1956 period
saw the emergence of some 21 Volumes of the Kenya law reports (KLR) this included the decision
of the high court only and were collected, compiled and edited by different judges and magistrates
-In Tanganyika we had the Tanganyika law reports that began in 1921
-in 1934 started the court of Appeal for East Africa law reports (E.A.C.A) it stopped in 1956
because a new series of reports known as East African Law reports was introduced (EA) . It
reported the decisions of the court of appeal for East Africa and the Superior courts of the
Constituent territories namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Aden, Seashells and Somali land.
-the EA stopped in 1967 from this period we (Tanzania) started to have the High Court Digest
(H.C.E) which ended in 1973 from 1973 we started to have the Law reports of Tanzania (L.R.T)
which stopped in 1979 and from 1980 we started to have the Tanzania Law Report (T.L.R).

Why do other cases have squared brackets and other normal brackets?
Round brackets are used when after there is a volume number which means that to get the report
the year in the round bracket is not important meaning you can ignore it because you can use the
volume number that is just after the brackets. And it is the year in which that particular judgment
was made.

Square brackets are used to show the year in which the case was reported.

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CITING BOOKS
-Immediately after the name of the author the year comes, the title, edition, place where it
is published and the publisher.
❖ Author’s name
❖ Year of publication
❖ Title of the book
❖ Edition if any
❖ Place of publication
❖ The publisher
Example Fintch, J. D, (1974) , Introduction to legal theory, (2nd edition) , Sweet and
Maxwell.

IMPORTANT HINTS IN CITING

When the book is written by more then 1 author you write the name of the 1st author then you
write “et al” meaning and others.
If the book is compiled with an article 1st start with the writer of an article and the title of the
article, then continue with the editor of the book. Example Engels, A.,” The origin of family,
private property and the state, “in Max, C and F. Engels, selected words, progress publishers,
1968,PP. 20-35.
Refer to Oscola quick reference guide

CITING AN ARTICLE IN A JOURNAL: it is a compilation of articles. In citing an article in a

journal start with the author of the article, the title of the article, the year and volume number of
the journal, and page number.
Example: Fridmann,G., “ The intention of Tort and contract”

Law reports
N.R: Nominate Reports
L.R: Law Reports
Q.B: Queens Bench Division

Electronic Sources / Citation

Court of Appeal

High Court

hancery Division

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Interpretation
William V Davies [2001] EWCA Civ. 10 at (59): this is interpreted as William V Davies the tenth
numbered judgment of the year 2001 in the civil division of the Court of Appeal at paragraph 59.

Structure of a Law Report

Commercial and Specialist Law Reports

Two reference pages

denotes the particular passage.

Square and Round Brackets

It also means that is the date when the case was reported.
er
is.

Titles of Cases
In Criminal cases

, Reg V………… , R V………….

.

or DPP.

In Civil cases

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In interpretation of wills

Applications

3. TECHNICAL TERMS

ial plants

Legal Abbreviations
Judicial terms

Court of England

mber/President of the Court of Appeal)

Citation and References

Ibid (ibidem): in the same place

by the whole court.

Example:
“Semble the phrase „carcass or portion of a carcass‟ in this statute doesnot include a sausage. See
per Trippe L.J, obiter in Sage V Onions, CA; Contra, Ham V Eggs, Div ct; aliter if the sausage
meat is not yet minced

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PLAGIARISM
Definition: This is the process of using someone else’s work without permission or using someone
else’s work without acknowledging the author. This is the use of materials from unacknowledged
sources or direct quotation of materials from documented reference without acknowledging that
the words have been taken verbatim from those references. According to the Webster’s
Dictionary, a
‘plagiarist’ is defined as “One who plagiarizes, or purloins the words, writings, or ideas of another,
and passes them off as his own; a literary thief.”

CAUSES OF PLAGIARISM.
i. Doing last minute work.
ii. Resubmitting the work which is already evaluated.
iii. Copying from a fellow student.
i. Not acknowledging sources.
ii. Using misleading reference.

PENALTY FOR PRACTICING PLAGIARISM.

a. Results into getting a zero.
b. Results into reduction in the grade.
c. Results into re-writing the work.
HOW TO AVOID PLAGIARISM.
a) Acknowledging sources.
b) Seek for advise were unsure.
c) Having a bibliography.
d) Try to formulate your own words.
e) Try to come up with your own ideas.

HOW AND WHY IS LEGAL WRITING DIFFERENT FROM OTHER WRITING.

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1. Use of authorities; Legal writing places heavy reliance on authorities. Writers back up their
assertions and statements with citations of authority unlike other forms of writing.
2. Use of technical terminologies; and these are specialized words and phrases unique to law
i.e Archaic vocabulary which was used in the medieval period.
3. The formality of legal writing is highly different from other writing. This formality can
take the form of long sentences, complex constructions, archaic and hyper-formal
vocabulary.
4. The use of Latin phrases and maxims.
5. The scope of research for legal writing is wide. Under legal writing the writer may need to
read so many documents, i.e cases, statutes, articles, journals e.t.c, unlike other forms of
writing.
6. Directed to a section of audience. Legal writing is basically practiced by lawyers, law
students and judges. This implies that it is only this section of people who may understand
legal text.
7. Involves the analysis of fact patterns and presentation of arguments in documents such as
legal memoranda and briefs.
8. Plagiarism is a great offence under legal writing.

BASIC TERMS USED IN LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING.

i. Bibliography- Contains all the sources you have read but not cited within your text.
ii. Reference List- Contains all the items you have referred to directly and cited within your
text.
iii. Preface- This is an introduction to a book, typically stating it’s subject, scope or aims.
iv. Abstract- This is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference
proceeding, or any in depth analysis of a particular subject and is often used to help the
reader quickly ascertain the paper’s purpose.
v. Thesis- This is a short statement usually one sentence, that summarizes the main point or
claim of an essay explained in the text by means of examples and evidence.
vi. Dissertation- This is a long essay on a particular subject, especially one written for a
university degree or diploma.

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vii. Table of contents- This is a list, usually found on a page before the start of a written work,
of it’s chapter or section, titles or brief description with their commencing page numbers.
viii. Index- This an alphabetical list of names, subjects e.t.c with reference to the pages on which
they are mentioned.
ix. Foreword- This is a short introduction of a book, typically by a person other than the author.
This is an introductory essay by a different person that precedes an author’s preface.

BRIEFING A CASE / CASE NOTES

While reading a case not everything is important. This is all about short summary of the judgment,
by putting the important issues only. We need to know that the part of the case that carries
authorities Ratio decidendi (RD). In reading a case or judgments you have to read the entire
judgments so that you may be in a position to identify the relevant or material facts, issues to be
determined, reasoning of the court, the principal of a case etc. This is called writing case notes.

CONTENT OF THE CASE NOTES

Title and citation of the case example R V. Juma Shaban 1986 TLR 100
You must select materials facts: materials facts are the ones on which the judgment of the court
is going to base. However, it is not easy to identify what facts are materials because, what facts
are materials is dependent on a judge or magistrate making that decision but there are some
indicators or identifiers of facts that are material for example the nature or the transaction in
question, the nature of breach or commission in a civil or criminal case respectively, damage
suffered circumstances of the commission or breach etc. when a judgment is read there are material
facts which are the most important, these are arts which the judgment of the court is going to base.
A principal of the case is the result of the material facts of the case and the reasoning and judgment
of the court.
Issues: you must identify relevant issues that might require the indulgent of the court and that
might be relevant or important in the decision to be made. Issues may be on a point of law, may
as well be on the procedure or may as well be on the facts. A simple way of identifying issue in a
judgment is to look for questions or the word whether. Almost all judge’s facts appear on the first
page and probably on the first line.

Begin the following exercises by looking up the cases cited.

Then write a case note for each one—that is, a short case synopsis that follows a standard form:
(1) Case name and citation;
(2) Brief facts;
(3) Question for decision;
(4) Holding;
(5) Reasoning.

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Your finished product should fit on a five-by-seven-inch index card (front and back).

EXERCISE
Write a case note on the Exparte Matovu case

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LESSON 6: LEGAL REASONING

For your research refer to Edward H. Levi, “An Introduction to Legal Reasoning,” from An
Introduction to Legal Reasoning (The University of Chicago Press), 1949 : University of
Chicago Press.
Introduction
• To enable students understand what legal reasoning is about.
• To enable students grasp the techniques of presenting legal arguments

What is legal reasoning?

Legal Reasoning refers to a process of legally thinking about a legal problem and then make
particular arguments based on the law to persuade the court.
William Walker Atkinson in his book ‘The Art of Logical Thinking’ defines “Reasoning” as, the
act, process or art of exercising the faculty of reason; the act or faculty of employing reason in
argument; argumentation, ratiocination; reasoning power; disputation and argumentation.

There are principles of legal reasoning and these include;

a) Issues: Lawyers must formulate issues relating to the law. Incase someone comes to you with a
problem what is the issue
b) Facts: The facts to be considered must be “material facts”.
c) Rules: Lawyers must state the right law the same way it is provided for under a statute; lawyers
must cite the right law.
d) Analysis: After identifying the material facts, lawyers must connect the material facts with the
law.
e) Conclusions: Lawyers must make conclusions after carrying careful observations and
investigations of the matter.

WHY LEGAL REASONING:

It helps to employ the faculty of mind in order to understand principals, rules and propositions of
the law. This will enable lawyers and judges to reach at a good judgment by evaluating well the
facts, evidences and arguments.

WHY STUDYING LOGIC

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Helps lawyers or advocates to predict the outcome of cases. (Because lawyers always advance
arguments to the court). Meaning a lawyer can predict a losing case and winning case by listening
to the statements made by your client.
It helps in development of the laws through judgments. Judgments are a result of reasoning.
(reasoning by judges).
The concept of legal reasoning is based on the American school of realism, articulated by Holmes
and Vitalis Tumonis legal realism and judicial decision making. The concept aims at developing
the skill to be creative, teaching the intellectual process of reaching a decision in a court action
and more importantly it is about law in action, which is more important than the law in books.

Lookout for the judgment of Justice Mubiru Ojera v Labeja (Civil Appeal 20 of 2013) [2018]
UGHCCD 61 (25 October 2018);

ASPECTS OR PROCESSES OF REASONING:

Analogy reasoning: is the reasoning by comparison or by examples. Meaning comparing two
cases by saying that the case of so and so have the same products as the case of so and so.
Legal reasoning differes form the sort of reasoning employed by individuals in their everyday
lives.

Informal/ Inductive reasoning: is the process of reasoning from particular rule or situation to a
general one. It involves an analysis of different situations before formulating a general principal.

Formal/ Deductive reasoning: this is a reasoning from general rule to specific situations that is to
say it involves the application of a readymade principal to individual cases
CASES :
1. Langridge vs Levy 1837-

The Plaintiff received a gun from his father His father bought he gun from Levy who told the
Plaintiffs after that the gun was of high quality. The defendant was told the gun was for the sons
use.

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The duty was owed because he was informed of the purporse Imposition of duty of care to user
would open the floodgates and allow for intermediate and infinite liability
2. Winterbottom vs Wright 1842 – Could not
2. Wilkinson vs downton
3. Derry vs peek
4. George and wife vs skivington
5. Heaven vs pender
6. Candler vs crane

LOGIC: This is a Greek word.

LOGIC: is the science dealing with the principals of good reasoning and arguments. So it governs
a listening to be done properly from the Heavens statements (premises) to the conclusion.

REASONING: it’s a faculty of a mind by which will distinguish the truth from false statements,
good from evil and which enables the processors to reduce truth from facts. You can know that a
person is lying because of the nature of the reasoning.

ARGUMENTS: it is a set of influences or propositions. In this common words are premises or

statements and conclusion these are common vocabs.
Example -men love football. (This is logical because the conclusion has arrived from the premises
there is a flow of statements). THIS MEANS THAT ITS VALID BUT NOT TRUE.
-John is a man.
-John loves football.
You should never attack the major premises and as well as not attacking the conclusion because
in the conclusion the major premises is also in it. Meaning that you should always attack the minor
premises as a lawyer.
NB; the validity of an argument should be distinguished from the truth of the conclusion. If one or
more premises are false, the conclusion of a valid argument may be false but it may also be true
however this is by chance.
Example:
❖ All mammals are four footed animals (argument is correct)

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❖ All people are mammals

❖ All people are four footed animals. (conclusion Is false)

SERIAL ARGUMENTS/ SORRTIES: This is a bit similar to syllogism but the difference here is
that this has several premises or arguments. This is a mechanism of thinking where by the
conclusion is reached out of many premises.
It is an argument consisting of series of premises arranged so that the predicate of each premise
forms the subject of the next premise. The conclusion unites the subject of the 1st premise with the
predicate of the last premise.
Example
A person who takes the property of another person shall be guilty of theft. To be guilty of theft the
person should take the property of another person without any recognized defense in law.
Bonafied claim of right is one of the recognized defenses in law
Juma has taken the property of another person
Juma did that honestly and reasonably believing that he had the right to do so.
Therefore, juma is not guilty of theft.

NB: Sorties are useful in reducing judgments as they enable a reader to know why was the case
decided the way it was. It also assists the reader to know the premises used by the judges in arriving
to the conclusion. Also I giving the R.D of that case.

DEDUCTIVE REASONING: the conclusion follows form the premises with certainty a
deductive argument is one that is intended to be valid. The reasons are the premises or
justifications. The premises support the conclusion in such a way that it would be impossible for
the premises to be true and for the conclusion to be false. The process of deductive reasoning
involves stating one or more propositions and then reasoning your way to a conclusion by applying
established principals or logic.

Justice Mubiru in the case of Labeja that you are instructed to read says Deductive reasoning may
be illustrated by the supposition that a bag contains only red marbles, and an individual is asked

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take one out. It may then be inferred by deductive reasoning that the marble is red. A deductive
argument is valid if and only if it is logically impossible that its conclusion is false while its
premises are true.is the process of reasoning from the general to particular rule to arrive at a
conclusion.

Syllogism
Syllogism derives from the Greek word syllogismos, meaning conclusion or inference. Syllogism
is simply a form of deductive reasoning where you arrive at a specific conclusion by examining
premises or ideas.

Syllogisms form an integral part of reasoning. Syllogism is a form of reasoning in which a

conclusion is drawn from two or three Heavens propositions or statements. It uses deductive
reasoning rather than inductive reasoning. You have to take the Heavens statements to be true,
even if they are at a variance from established facts.

This is a kind of argument that consists of three parts ie two premises and a Conclusion.
Example
❖ -girls love isidingo

❖ -Maria is a girl

❖ -Maria loves Isidingo

Syllogism is also referred to as a closed system of thinking.
NB. In legal syllogism the legal provision forms
-The major premise
- The statement of facts forms the minor premise and
-The judgment forms the conclusion.

Let us see an example of deductive reasoning.

In the study of logic, syllogism is a method that, through reasoning, uses two premises to form a
conclusion. With that said, the law of syllogism presents the following structure for the application
of this method:

(1) If A, then B.

(2) If B, then C.

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(3) If A, then C.

Considering A, B, and C placeholders for statements, if (1) and (2) are true, then (3) is true.

For example:

Mary is holding a rose.

All roses are flowers.
Mary is holding a flower.

Many syllogisms contain three components.

 Major premise - Mary is holding a rose.

 Minor premise – All roses are flowers.
 Conclusion – Mary is holding a flower.

However, there are different types of syllogisms. Take a look at each type of syllogism, along
with examples.

Types of Syllogism
The type of syllogism that contains three components is a categorical syllogism. However, there
are two other major kinds of syllogism. Take a look at each one with examples. Then you can go
on to explore enthymemes and syllogistic fallacy.

Categorical Syllogism Examples

As we know, our first example about roses was a categorical syllogism. Categorical syllogisms
follow an, "If A is part of C, then B is part of C" logic. Let's look at some examples of
categorical syllogisms.

 All cars have wheels. I drive a car. Therefore, my car has wheels.
o A: Major premise: All cars have wheels.
o B: Minor premise: I drive a car.
o C: Conclusion: My car has wheels.

 All insects frighten me. That is an insect. Therefore, I am frightened.

o A: Major Premise: All insects frighten me.
o B: Minor Premise: That is an insect.
o C: Conclusion: I am frightened.

Rules of Syllogism

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There are six known rules of syllogism. However, they mainly apply to categorical syllogism,
since that is the only category that requires three components: the major premise, minor premise
and conclusion. Learn the six rules that ensure you're making a strong and accurate argument.

A major premise is the principle that states a general rule. During the legal research this premise
state generally a statement of law. A minor premise the part which makes a factual statement of
the facts of the research. During the legal research and arguments, this premise states the statement
of fact. The role of conclusion is to make connect the major and minor premise through a statement
and hence the relation establish further provides a general rule that applies to the facts and during
the legal research it can be said that it is the Step of instating the law to the facts.

 Rule One: There must be three terms: the major premise, the minor premise and the
conclusion — no more, no less.
 Rule Two: The minor premise must be distributed in at least one other premise.
 Rule Three: Any terms distributed in the conclusion must be distributed in the relevant
premise.
 Rule Four: Do not use two negative premises.
 Rule Five: If one of the two premises is negative, the conclusion must be negative.
 Rule Six: From two universal premises, no conclusion may be drawn.

All crows are black. The bird in my cage is black. Therefore, this bird is a crow.

o Major premise: All crows are black.

o Minor premise: The bird in my cage is black.
o Conclusion: This bird is a crow.

The scenery in Ireland is beautiful. I'm in Ireland. Therefore, the scenery must be beautiful.

o Major premise: The scenery in Ireland is beautiful.

o Minor premise: I'm in Ireland.
o Conclusion: The scenery is beautiful.

Example section 294 (HOUSE BREAKING) of the penal code

Major Premise: Any person who breaks and enters a building, tent or vessel used a human
building with intent to commit an offense there in is guilty of house breaking and is liable to
imprisonment for 14 years.
Minor Premise: John on 7th February 2009 at 11am broke and entered Mr. Juma’s house with an
intent to steal Juma’s radio cassette.
Conclusion: Therefore, John is guilty of an offense of house breaking and is liable to be sentenced
for 14 years of imprisonment.

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DISADVANTAGES OF SYLLOGISM:
 Does not always guarantee the truth as an argument can be accurate but the conclusion may
be false.
 It is a closed way of thinking as it does not take into account other factors.
ADVANTAGES OF SYLLOGISM:
 Saves time
 Easy to arrive to a conclusion
 It makes a judgment predictable
 Decisions are made easily
 Lawyers should always rely on the statements and the arguments given and tell the court
as if you were present at that particular scene. (The thing speaks for itself)
Example: to qualify as a victim of rape under criminal law there must be:

1. Sexual intercourse with a woman

2. The intercourse must be without her will" (Major premise; states a rule of law). Here, the
woman had consensual sex. (Minor premise; makes a statement of fact.) Therefore, the
plaintiff cannot be a "victim" of rap under criminal law. (Conclusion; correctly applies
the law to the facts.)

When the truth of the premise follows:

In order for a syllogism to be valid, it must be logically impossible for its premises to be true and
its conclusion to be false. In other words, a syllogism is valid if, given the truth of its premises, the
conclusion "follows" logically such that it, too, must be true. An argument is not valid simply
because its premises and conclusion are all true.

Example: All teachers are human. Some human are excellent racers. Therefore, some teachers are
excellent racers.

During the research the study of the causal factors of the delinquencies have some general
anticipatory idea which enables the researcher guides them to observe on the specific facts which

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is relevant to their inquiry. It is not necessary that the implications are clear then in those cases the
observation helps them user to formulate certain single propositions leading to clearing out
irrelevance. That is, they deduce from die complexities of observed behavior certain single ideas.
In other words, they use a process of reasoning about the whole observed situations in order to
arrive at a particular idea. This process of reasoning is called deduction or deductive reasoning.

OTHER METHODS

JUDICIAL DISCRETION;
This requires the knowledge of the law, and then applying such knowledge to the facts of a case
in order to arrive legal conclusions. Lawyers must identify the problem giving rise to a case so that
they are in position to identify the laws applicable. Lawyers then have to evaluate the problem
basing on the evidence available and then arrive to conclusions after careful observation and
investigation.

Thus in Sam Kuteesa and others v. Attorney General, it was stated that;
Also in R v. Board of Education, the court was the view that, “the courts act according to the
rules of reason, justice and law within the limits of legislation. Judicial discretion is not a private
opinion, humor,vague or fanciful considerations.”
It is important to note that, lawyers must understand the legal problem very well before making
conclusions so that they do not arrive at wrong conclusions. For example, in Ssekikubo and others
v. Attorney General Constitutional Appeal 1 of 2015 UGSC 19(expelled mps), the constitutional
court arrived at a wrong conclusion when the Justices interpreted the word “leave” to mean ‘to go
away, stop living in and, stop working for’. The Supreme court held that the constitutional court
faulted in it’s reasoning while interpreting the word ‘leave’. This case has principles on statutory
interpretation, binding authority, distinguishing which are very important for this section of the
study.

INDUCTIVE REASONING: This is the reasoning from a particular rule to the general one that
is a conclusion. By observing a specific outcome of facts the conclusion is generalized. Its logically
true but may not or maybe realistically true.
Justice Mubiru case- With inductive reasoning, suppose the individual does not know the colour
of the marbles in the bag, and takes one out and it is red. The individual may infer by inductive

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reasoning that all the marbles in the bag are red. An inductive argument is strong if and only if it
is improbable that its conclusion is false given that its premises are true.
Inductive reasoning is based on some common assumptions such as
That the future will follow the same pattern as the past
That a sufficiently large number of observed objects give us round to attribute something to
Another object which you have not yet observed as stated in the case of Home Office V. Dorset
yacht company limited 1970 V2 ELR 294.

Premise 1: The Mango is a Fruit.

Premise 2: The box is full of fruits
Conclusion: The box is full of mangoes
Logically true but not realistically.
As opposed to deductive which is always true.

All mangoes are fruits

All fruits have seeds
All mangoes have seeds
Logically true and realistically true.

This is process of reasoning that involves making a number of observations and then proceeding
to formulate a principal which will be of general application. It is similar to scientific
experimentation where if the same thing happens repeatedly it is assumed that there is a principal
which ensures that it will always due so. The premises support the conclusion but do not make it
certain.
Example
Heavens V Pender. The decision was based on inductive reasoning as the judge used examples of
cars, ships and train to arrive at his major propositions known as Brett’s major propositions.
However, there is a weakness that however many observations support the conclusion, there
remains a possibility that some other observation may refute the conclusion. Example in law the
doctrine of (per incuriam) may refute the conclusion. It is sometimes called synthetic reasoning

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that is the building up of a general rule from many particular observation, the observations or
assumptions upon which the reference is made are called premises of assumptions.

REASONING BY ANALOGY: the process of reasoning by analogy involves saying that, if a

number of different things are similar to each other in a number of different specific ways, they
are, or should be, similar to each other in other ways as well. This process maybe seen operating
in the doctrine of precedent, which requires that cases with similar facts should be treated as being
similar in law, the problem with reasoning by analogy is to identify which points need to be similar
and how similar they need to be. Refer to cases Long meid vs Holiiday and Landrigde vs Levy as
opposed to Winterbottom vs right.
Here arguments are made basing on the fact that, a case should be handled in a similar way another
case with similar facts and ratio was handled by court. Merrit vs Merrit and Balfor vs Balfor

“If case (A) was decided in a certain way, and the facts and ratio of case (A) are similar with the
facts of case (B) at hand, case (B) has to be decided the same way case (A) was decided by court.”
In Amama Mbabazi v. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and another(Presidential Election petition No.1
of 2016), it was observed by court that the facts and issues of Amama Mbabazi’s case were
practically the same as the facts and issues in the previous case of Dr Kiiza Besigye v. Yoweri
Museveni and anor(Presidential Election Petition No.1 of 2006), were the court held that
although there were irregularities in the electoral process, such irregularities could not substantially
render the elections null and void. Therefore, the court in Amama Mbabazi’s case followed the
reasoning in Dr Kiiza Besigye’s case and it held that, even though there were irregularities in the
electoral process, such irregularities could not substantially render the elections null and void. (It
is clear that the court in Amama’s case reasoned by analogy when it followed the decision in
Besigye’s case).

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LESSON 7: PRECEDENTS
Black’s Law Dictionary, 18th Edition page 1214: “A precedent is an adjudged case or decision
of a court of justice, considered as furnishing a rule or authority for the determination of an
identical or similar case afterwards arising, or of a similar question of law.” A precedent is
every decision of one of the superior court which has not been reversed on appeal or overruled that
is in the hierarchy binding on subordinate courts. It can also be a judgment or decision of a court
of law cited as an authority for deciding a similar set of facts; a case which serves as an authority
for the legal principle embodied in its decision.
Judicial precedent is further defined in the Oxford Dictionary of Law as a “judgement or decision
of a Court used as an authority for reaching the same decision in subsequent cases. Oxford. (Oxford
Dictionary of Law, (6th edn OUP Oxford, 2006); see also Black’s Law Dictionary 9th Edition
page 1214.)

For a precedent to be followed it has to be in existence. The rule of adherence to judicial

precedents finds its expression in the doctrine of Stare decisis .The term “stare decisis”, is derived
from the full Latin maxim “stare decisis et non quieta movare”, which literally means to stand by
a decision and not to disturb that which is settled. This requires that when a particular point of law
is decided in a case, all future cases containing the same facts and circumstances will be bound by
that decision. Or simply that when a point or principle of law has been once or officially decided
by a ruling of a competent court, it will no longer be considered as open to examination by the
same court or by those bound to follow its adjudications unless it be by urgent reasons or in
exceptional cases.

What the doctrine of precedent requires is that cases must be decided the same way when their
material facts are the same. Obviously it does not require that all the facts should be the same, as
few disputes have exactly the same facts or legal issues. We know that in this life all the facts of a
case will never recur; but the legally material facts may recur and it is with these that the doctrine
is concerned. It is the lawyer’s duty to convince the judge that the past decision is similar factually;
and legal issues underlying rationale of past decision may help to determine its precedential value.
This is not exactly easy, thus, the operation of the doctrine of precedent is best understood by

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looking at specific examples. The English case of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 is most
illustrative.
The doctrine is a general principle of Common Law that is established in a case to help Courts
decide upon similar issues in subsequent cases. Thus, Judicial Precedent is also known as case law.
It is important to note that where there is no existing precedent, the court will “declare” the law
and the case will become an original precedent. Given a determination as to the governing
jurisdiction, a court is "bound" to follow a precedent of that jurisdiction only if it is directly in
point. In the strongest sense, "directly in point" means that:
a) the question resolved in the precedent case is the same as the question to be resolved in the
pending case,
b) resolution of that question was necessary to disposition of the precedent case;
c) the significant facts of the precedent case are also present in the pending case, and
d) no additional facts appear in the pending case that might be treated as significant

Precedents in Uganda
The doctrine of precedents was a colonial usage in Uganda as noted in some of the earlier
cases like others in the case of Rex vs. Amkeyo Hannington CJ relied on the case of Hyde
vs. Hyde as a precedent in defining what amounts to a marriage and later held that such
marriage in a accordance with the Ugandan custom was not a legal marriage; a case of wife
purchase and did not give rise to a marriage as under stood by the civilized people.
Interestingly so, the case of Amkeyo demonstrates the possibility of the formal legal system
imposing its values and concepts on something that is governed by a different social-culture
context, Hamilton CJ is quoted having said; “… in my opinion the use of the word marriage
describe the relation entered into by an African Native with a woman of his tribe according
to tribal custom is a misnomer which has led in the past considerable confusion of ideas

Following the independence of most African states, decisions of the Privy Council were no
longer binding on the former protectorate states and significant legal decisions were taken
to try and redress the imbalance and prejudice towards customary marriages. A good case
is one of Alai vs. Uganda where it was held, that “any married woman” in Sec 150 A penal
code, means any woman married to any man irrespective of the form of such marriage,
provided that such marriage has been conducted in one of the forms recognized by the
people of Uganda, including marriages according to the customs of the people. Currently
customary marriages have been legally accepted but that was not so until the year 1973
when the customary registration decree was enacted, it supports polygamy and awards
privileges of the law to those married under customary law as married persons.

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TYPES OF PRECEDENTS
Precedents may be original, binding or persuasive.
A vertical precedent describes an obligation of a court to follow the decision made by a court above
it in Judicial Hierarchy on the same question even if that question has arisen in a different case.
Find applicable case as your research. Look out for advantages and disadvantages.

Horizontal – same court follows its own previous decisions this was set in the case of London
Street Tramsway vs London County Coundcil 1898. The rational being that the highest court
should be allowed to depart from its previous decisions so as to meet the changing conditions of
the times.

An original precedent ensue point of law in a case has never been decided before, then whatever
the judge decides will form new precedent for future cases to follow. Find applicable case as your
research. Look out for advantages and disadvantages.

The doctrine of binding precedent refers to the fact that, within the hierarchical structure of the
courts, the decision of a higher court will be binding on a lower court. Every court in the hierarchy
must follow the prior decisions of courts higher than itself even if the decision is wrong. It may
not decline to follow the higher courts’ decision on any ground. In genera+/l terms, this means that
when judges try cases they will check to see if a similar situation has come before a court
previously. Find applicable case as your research. Look out for advantages and disadvantages.
In Paul K. Ssemogerere and others vs. Attorney General Odoki CJ citing the case of Young vs.
Bristol held that the doctrine of precedent requires lower courts to follow decisions of higher courts
on questions of law, but that the doctrine also laid down instances where a court isn’t bound to
follow its own decisions. It was further stated that the principle of Stare decisis is followed by the
court subject to the following qualifications; firstly, that the court is entitled and bound to decide
which of two conflicting decisions of its own it will follow. Secondly, that the court would be
bound to refuse to follow a decision of its own which though not expressly overruled cannot stand

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with the decision of the Privy Council or the House of Lords. Thirdly, that the court is not bound
to follow a decision of its own if it is certified that the decision was given per incurium.

If a precedent from a similar situation exists and it was set by a court of equal or higher status to
the court deciding the new case, then the judge in the present case should follow the legal principle
established in the earlier case. Where the precedent is from a lower court in the hierarchy, the judge
in the new case may not follow but will certainly consider it.

A persuasive precedent is one which is not binding on a court but which may be applied. According
to Black’s Law Dictionary defines a Persuasive precedent or advisory precedent is one that is not
binding on a court, but is entitled to respect and careful consideration. In a case of first impression,
courts often rely on persuasive precedent from courts in other jurisdictions that have previously
dealt with similar issues. Persuasive precedent may become binding through the adoption of the
persuasive precedent by a higher court.
The following are some examples:
1. Decisions of courts lower in the hierarchy. For instance, the Court of Appeal may follow a
High Court decision, although it is not bound to do so.
2. Decisions of foreign courts. These are usually cited where there is a dearth or total lack of
local authority on a point.
3. Obiter dicta of courts higher in the hierarchy.
4. Persuasive authority may also be found in legal writings in textbooks and periodicals,
where there is no direct authority in the form of decided cases. Accordingly, in FRA
Williams v Daily Times (Nig) Ltd15, it was held that decisions of Courts of Co-ordinate
Jurisdiction are persuasive in nature. Also in Yahaya v State16; it was held that English
authorities are of persuasive status in Nigerian Courts.

For your reference: Millicent Wamaitha Njogu v Pauline Nyambura Waweru [2022] eKLRIn the
English persuasive authority of Scherer V Counting Instruments Ltd [1986] IWLR 615, the
English Court of Appeal set out the principles for the award of costs which are in essence not far
distanced from our local jurisprudence. They are;-

“a) The normal rule is that cost follows the even. The party who turns out to have
unjustifiably either brought another party before the court, or Heavens another party

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cause to have recourse to the Court to obtain his rights is required to compensate that
other party in costs; but
b) The judge has an unlimited discretion to make what orders as to costs he considers
that the justice of the case requires.
c) Consequently, a successful party has a reasonable expectation of obtaining an order
for his costs to be paid by the opposing party, but has no right to such an order, for it
depends upon the exercise of the Court’s discretion.
d) This discretion is not one to be exercised arbitrarily, it must be exercised judicially,
that is to say, in accordance with established principles and in relation to the facts of the
case.
e) The discretion cannot be well exercised unless there are relevant grounds for its
exercise, for its exercise without grounds cannot be a proper exercise of the judges’
function.
5. f) The grounds must be connected with the case. This may extend to any matter relating
to litigation, but no further. In relation to interim application, “the case” is restricted to
the application, and does not extend to the whole of the proceedings.
6. g) If a party invokes the jurisdiction of the court to grant him some discretionary relief
and establish the basic ground therefor, but the relief sought is denied in the exercise of
discretion the opposing party may properly be ordered to pay his costs. But where the
party who invokes the Court’s jurisdiction wholly falls to establish one or more of the
ingredients necessary to entitle him to the relief claimed, whether discretionary or not, it
is difficult to envisage a ground on which the opposition party could properly be ordered
to pay his costs.”

IMPORTANT PARTS IN A JUDGEMENT

Ratio Decidendi and Obiter Dictum
When giving judgement in a case, the judge sets out the facts, states the applicable laws to them,
and then provides their decision on the matter.
It is not all the aspects of a judgement that are relevant in determining the principle decided in a
court. However, the other parts of the judgement are not entirely useless. Accordingly, the decision
or judgement of a court may fall into two parts: the ratio decidendi (reason for the decision) and
obiter dictum (something said by the way).

Ratio Decidendi (This forms the precedent)

This Latin term literally translates as the reason for the decision. The ratio decidendi of a case is
the principle of law on which a decision is based. When a judge delivers judgement in a case, he
outlines the facts which he finds to have been proved on the evidence. Then he applies the law to
those facts and arrives at a decision, for which he gives the reason (ratio decidendi).

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Note that the ratio decidendi of a case is not the actual decision, or order, like ‘guilty’ or ‘the
defender is liable to pay compensation’. Rather, it establishes a precedent, which is the rule of law
used by the judge or judges in deciding the legal problem raised by the facts of the case. This rule,
which is an abstraction from the facts of the case, is known as the ratio decidendi of the case.
The reason for the decision in this case, the ratio decidendi, can therefore be expressed simply as:
“where harm was caused to a pedestrian by a dog smashing the window of the car that it was in,
and where this sort of incident was unforeseeable, the defendants were not liable.”

Obiter Dictum
The judge may speculate about what his decision would or might have been if the facts of the case
had been different. This is obiter dictum (obiter dicta in the plural), a Latin phrase that means ‘a
word said while travelling’ or ‘along the way’. It is important to note that the binding part of a
decision is the ratio decidendi. An obiter dictum is not binding in later cases because it was not
strictly relevant to the matter in issue in the original case. However, an obiter dictum may be of
persuasive (as opposed to binding) authority in later cases.

OPERATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF JUDICIAL PRECEDENT

Donogue Vs Stephenson: A friend of Mrs Donoghue bought her a bottle of ginger beer which
was served in a dark, opaque bottle. Mrs Donoghue had drunk about half the bottle of beer before
emptying the remaining ginger beer into a glass. As she did this, a partly decomposed snail floated
out of the bottle. Subsequently, Mrs Donoghue became ill with gastroenteritis and shock. She
claimed that her illness was a direct result of consuming the ginger beer and seeing the decomposed
snail. Mrs Donoghue could not bring an action under the law of contract because she was not a
party to the contract. The contract for the sale of the ginger beer was between the manufacturer
and Mrs Donoghue’s friend.
The defence counsel argued that there was no duty of care because there was no contract between
the manufacturer and Mrs Donoghue. However, The House of Lords (3:2) decided in favour of
Mrs Donoghue. This was the first time that the House of Lords decided that the manufacturer owed
a duty of care to the ultimate consumer.

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The ratio decidendi (the precedent that courts have followed over time) : “where a manufacturer
sells a product which will reach the ultimate consumer without possibility of interference, and
where inspection is not possible, the manufacturer owes a duty of care to avoid acts or omissions
which one can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbor.”
Using precedent, the legal principles have been applied and extended to many other cases. A later
Australian case heard in the Privy Council, Grant vs. Australian Knitting Mill[1936] AC 85
involved similar circumstances. Here, Grant purchased woolen underwear manufactured by AKM
Ltd. and suffered dermatitis as a result of wearing it. It was later discovered that the condition was
caused by the excessive use of chemicals. The precedent established in Donoghue’s case has since
been developed and extended to cover a range of other relationships, and reflected in statutes.

Courts and precedent

Every court in the hierarchy must follow the prior decisions of courts higher than itself even if the
decision is wrong. No lower court therefore has a right under any guise to refuse to follow the
decision of a higher court. What this means is that the doctrine only operates where there is a
hierarchy of court. In Ossom v Osom,the Court of Appeal stated that:
I agree with the learned counsel that the doctrine of stare decisis is a well settled principle of
judicial policy which is strictly to be adhered to by all lower courts. While a lower court may
depart from its own decision reached per incuriam, a lower court cannot refuse to be bound by the
decision of a higher court even if those decisions were reached per incuriam. The implication
therefore is that a lower court is bound by the decision of a higher court even when that decision
was given erroneously. If therefore a decision is wrongly reached by the court of appeal, the court
of appeal or the supreme court is the proper forum where such an error can be corrected and
certainly not a high court.”
Thus, a judge of the lower court who veers away from the obligations of stare decisis invites the
condemnation of the higher court. The legendary decidendi and obiter dictum is therefore very
critical in determining what constitutes precedent.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PRECEDENT

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Whilst the doctrine of judicial precedent helps to maintain the interests of justice, many have
argued that it restricts the law’s ability to keep abreast with the changes in society and that much
restriction thereby exists. Consequently, there are advantages and disadvantages to the doctrine of
judicial precedent which will be briefly discussed hereunder.
Advantages of Judicial Precedent
There are many advantages to the doctrine of judicial precedent, which are identified as follows
The doctrine of precedent has some merits and Relevancy in the legal conceptualizations,
namely:-
1. It creates certainty and consistency, every time a similar situation comes up for decision
before a lower court, the judges need not speculate on what the law is , they look at and
stand by the decided cases. By looking at existing precedents it is possible to forecast what
a decision will be and plan accordingly. There is uniformity in the law. Similar cases will
be treated in the same way. This is important to give the system a sense of justice and to
make the system acceptable to the public.

2. The doctrine provides details of the case. The judge normally gives a detailed reasoning
for his decision unlike a mere section of the law which does not provide the rationale for
its enactment. This element is helpful to legal researchers, lawyers and judges. Common
law courts generally explain in detail the legal rationale behind their decisions with
citations of both legislation and previous relevant judgments which constitute a precedent
binding on other courts.
3. Case law is developed out of practical problems and as a result it keeps pace with the
changing needs of society.
4. Judicial precedent is flexible. There are a number of ways to avoid precedents and this
enables the system to change and to adapt to new situations. Despite this position, many
scholars have criticized case law as being rigid since it ignores the changing environment.
5. Judicial precedent is practical in nature. It is based on real facts, unlike legislation.
6. The fore captioned merit notwithstanding, one critique of the use of precedent has been
made in a controversial 1997 book by attorney Michael Trotter. He blamed the tendency
of American lawyers to cite both binding and persuasive authority as one of the major
factors behind the escalation of legal costs during the 20th century. He argued that courts
should ban the citation of persuasive precedent from outside their jurisdiction, with two
exceptions:
7. It saves the precious time and energy of judges since they need not trace every point of
law.
8. By keeping the law in view, the doctrine largely succeeds in keeping justice and fairness,
ensuring within reasonable bounds, that citizens are treated as equals before the law.
9. By engendering due respect for the decisions of superior Courts in the hierarchy, it helps
to maintain the ethics of the legal profession.

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10. By introducing a sense of obligation in the inferior Courts to follow the decisions of the
superior Courts, it enforces a welcome uniformity of standards through the hierarchy, and
11. It facilitates the task of legal practitioners to find law and advise their clients properly as
to what the Court's decision in a particular legal issue may be expected probably to be.

Disadvantages of Judicial Precedent

1. Difficulties can arise in deciding what the ratio decidendi is, particularly if there are a
number of reasons.
2. There may be a considerable wait for a case to come to court for a point to be decided.
3. Cases can easily be distinguished on their facts to avoid following an inconvenient
precedent. There is far too much case law and it is too complex. ) The doctrine of
precedent is seen to be rigid
4. It destroys the original thinking or reasoning of the judge of a subordinate court because
he has to follow what is already there. It undermines the thinking of the lower courts and
judges.
5. When there a rises a conflict with the statute, the statute prevails.
6. It is an incomplete system without equity and justice.
7. Difficulties can arise in deciding what the ratio decidendi is, particularly if there are a
number of reasons.
8. There may be a considerable wait for a case to come to court for a point to be decided
9. Cases can easily be distinguished on their facts to avoid following an inconvenient
precedent
10. There is far too much case law and it is too complex.

Can courts avoid precedents? Yes they can. How?

OVER RULING: It occurs where a superior court in Hierarchy is satisfied that not only that the
previous decision is wrong, but also that it should no longer be followed then it over rules it. The
earlier decision thus is deprived of any power to bind any court in future.
Overruling can also be referred to as the procedure whereby a court higher up in the hierarchy sets
aside a legal ruling established in a previous case. Overruling can occur if the previous court did

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not correctly apply the law, or because the later court considers that the rule of law contained in
the previous ratio decidendi is no longer desirable.

Example the court of Appeal of Uganda over the decision made by the High Court.
Express over ruling: This is when the court express that this decision is a bad law.
Implied over ruling: This is when a court decides to change the principal of another court by
making its own principal which will over rule the other.

A higher court can overrule a decision made in an earlier case by a lower court e.g, the Court of
appeal can overrule an earlier High Court decision; just as much as the European Court of Justice
(ECJ) and House of Lords can also overrule their own previous decisions.

Overruling can occur under any of the following instances;

a) Where the previous court did not correctly apply the law, for example, the overruling of Anderton
v Ryan by the House of Lords in R v Shivpuri concerning the Criminal Attempts Act 1981; or
b) An instance where the later court considers that the rule of law contained in the previous case is
no longer desirable. For example, the House of Lords' decision in Miliangos v George Frank Ltd
which overruled previous authority that judgments could not be Heavens in foreign currency.

Essentially, over-ruling means proving the previous case was wrong and therefore changing the
“leading case” in that aspect of law. However, the decision in the previous case is not actually
changed itself. Over-ruling can only be done by a court with authority to over- rule, eg, the HC
cannot over- rule the Court Appeal but the Court Appeal can over-rule the High Court. Over-ruling
can also be criticized on the ground that law making should be left to Parliament and not done by
judges. It is a way of correcting mistakes made by the lower courts.

REVERSING: Overruling should however not be confused with ‘reversing’, which means that
the judgment of a lower court was incorrect and is therefore reversed. The result is that the lower
court which tried the case is instructed to dismiss the original action, retry the case or change its
judgment.

Reversing is the overturning on appeal by a higher court, of the decision of the court below that
hearing the appeal. The appeal court will then substitute its own decision. R v Kingston where the
House of Lords reversed the decision of the Court of Appeal and held that involuntary intoxication
will not be a defence unless it prevents the defendant forming mens rea for the crime charged even
though the defendant was not at fault for becoming intoxicated. This can only be carried out by a
court with enough authority, such as a Divisional Court, the Court of Appeal or House of Lords.
Most cases stop at the Court of Appeal and do not go to the House of Lords.A precedent may also
be avoided when judges disapprove with the precedent. Judges may disapprove of a precedent,

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which they are nevertheless bound to apply, in the hope that it will be reconsidered. A superior
court may also disapprove of a precedent created by a lower court without actually over- ruling it.
An example of the former is Elliott v C where Lord Justice Goff disapproved of the House of
Lord’s decision in R v Caldwell which established objective recklessness. An example of the latter
is B v DPP where the House of Lords disapproved of the strict liability case, R v Prince. Criticism
may persuade a court to overrule a heavily criticized precedent.

Ojera v Labeja (Civil Appeal 20 of 2013) [2018] UGHCCD 61 (25 October 2018);

The appellate court may interfere with a finding of fact if the trial court is shown to have
overlooked any material feature in the evidence of a witness or if the balance of probabilities as
to the credibility of the witness is inclined against the opinion of the trial court. In particular this
court is not bound necessarily to follow the trial magistrate’s findings of fact if it appears either
that he or she has clearly failed on some point to take account of particular circumstances or
probabilities materially to estimate the evidence or if the impression based on demeanour of a
witness is inconsistent with the evidence in the case generally. This duty may be discharged with
or without the submissions of the parties as the court proceeds to do now.

DIS REGARDING: it simply means not following a precedent. It is done by court of concurrent
jurisdiction. It may occur for example where there are 2 conflicting decisions, and if this occurs
then the latter is preferred to the prior decision. This happens where the 2 courts are of the same
court coordinate)

DISTINGUISHING: It occurs where a judge or advocate compares the material facts of a previous
case and those of a present case and finds that there are some differences between the 2 cases and
so declares that the principal in the previous case does not fully apply in the present case. In
practical terms distinguishing is the most significant technique of all.

NB: Distinguishing an earlier case is simply a way of saying that a previous case or decision is
irrelevant to the latter case.

TYPES OF DISTINGUISHING:
RESTRICTIVE DISTINGUISHING: it cuts down the expressed ratio decidendi of the earlier
case by treating as material to the earlier decision some fact, present in the earlier case, which the
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earlier court regarded as immaterial or by introducing a qualification (exception) in to the rule

stated by the earlier courts that is to say the judge in the present case considers the R.D in the
previous case to be narrow. You do more research on the R.D by digging in more in the material
facts.
NON RESTRICTIVE DISTINGUISHGING: It occurs where a court accepts the expressed R.D
of the earlier case and does not seek to curtail it, but finds that the case before it does not fall within
these R.D because of some material difference of facts. You do not attempt to challenge the
previous R.D at all.

The main mechanisms through which judges alter or avoid precedents are: Overruling and
Distinguishing. Landringe vs holiday case

In the case of Attorney General v Uganda Law Society Constitutional Appeal No.1 of 2006 the
Supreme Court per Justice Mulenga JSC had this to say about the binding power of precedent.:-

“Under the doctrine of stare decisis which is a cardinal rule in our jurisprudence, a court of law is
bound to adhere to its previous decision save in exceptional cases where the previous decision is
distinguishable or was overruled by a higher court on appeal or was arrived at per incuriam without
taking into account a law in force or a binding precedent. In absence of any such exceptional
circumstances a panel of an appellate court is bound by previous decisions of other panels of the
same court.”

Distinguishing a Previous Case

Distinguishing a case on its facts, or on the point of law involved, is a device used by judges to
usually in order to avoid the consequences of an earlier inconvenient decision which is, in strict
practice, binding on them. Of great importance to look at is the case where the defendants had
stabbed the victim who received negligent medical treatment case. This case was distinguished
from another case, where the victim died of pneumonia and the chain of causation broken. Further
to, the renown case of Balfour v Balfour was distinguished in Merritt v Merrit. As a matter of
judicial practice, any judge can distinguish a precedent on minute details and the differences can
sometimes seem illogical. It’s worth of note still, that distinguishing does allow judges to develop
the law and create exceptions to a general rule established in a previous case. If a judgment goes
to appeal the appellate court will have the opportunity to review both the precedent and the case
under appeal and perhaps overruling the previous case law by setting a new precedent of higher
authority. This may happen several times as the case works its way through successive appeals.
Lord Denning, first of the High Court of Justice, later of the court of appeal provided a famous

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example of this evolutionary process in his development of the concept of estoppels staring in the
high tree case.

Per Incuriam
Per incuriam, literally translated as "through lack of care", A decision wrongly decided because a
judge was ill informed about how the law is applied, not reffred to relevant authorites or statutes,
ignorance of another decision. Refers to a judgment of a court which has been decided without
reference to a statutory provision or earlier judgment which would have been relevant. Ordinarily,
under Common Law (unlike what obtains in other jurisdictions), the rationales of a judgment must
be followed thereafter by lower courts while hearing similar cases. Thus in Uganda, a lower court
cannot depart from an earlier judgment of a superior court even where that earlier judgment was
decided per incuriam.

Where the decision was (per incurium where by this is a decision made when there is a failure to
follow a binding decision) or out of ignorance there is a case of London Street Tramway Ltd V.
London County council [1898] AC 378.
Where there are 2 conflicting decisions meaning same courts but made 2 decisions at different
times meaning with that situation the House of Lord’s may not be bound on it own decisions
discussed in the case of Calidonia Railway V. Walkers Transport Company.

Where public policy changes. A decision basing on some public policy particularly commercial
was not binding if social conditions change there is a maxim which says “Cessinte rational Cessat
Ipsa Lex” which means where the rational for the law ceases hence the law also ceases. There is a
case of Nordenfelt V. Maxim Nordenfelt.

CONCLUSION
The presence of judicial precedent makes it easier for the courts to make decisions when the case
before them is a reflection of previously-decided law. This system certifies that the consistency
and certainty provided within the justice system offers a fast, effective judicial process that works
fairly for everyone. When every case receives a similar outcome when the facts are equal, then the
outcomes are predictable. However, despite the manifestly obvious advantages of judicial

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precedent, it also has some disadvantages. Consequently, unless the precedent to be followed is
good, it may be a perpetuation of vice and injustice.
I will conclude by saying this:
The concept of Judicial Precedent and the doctrine of stare decisis might not be perfect in its
operation; yet one only needs to imagine the courts operating without precedent to appreciate that
indeed, its usefulness far outweighs whatever imperfection it might possess

Read cases of Heavens Vs Pender, and the rest as assigned in class.

The premises may be false and the reasoning itself may be invalid in the case of WARD V. JAMES
1965 Vol 1 ELR 563
Example: where an employee is injured at his work place where he was working. Here the
employee has to prove that he was injured while doing what he was supposed to do and the
employer also has to prove that the employee was injured when not doing his work.
In deductive reasoning propositions are asserted and then are used as the basis of reasoning, refer
to Bret’s major propositions Heavens vs Pender (1883) Brett MR. minority opinion thus deduction
is a process of reasoning in which reasons are Heavens in supporting a claim.
A ship owner contracted with Pender (defendant) to dock a ship at Pender’s dry dock and use
Pender’s equipment while the ship was to be painted. Heaven (plaintiff) was hired by a ship painter
to paint the shipowner’s ship that was docked at Pender’s dry dock. One of the ropes supplied by
Pender at the dock was defective, and Heaven was injured when the rope gave way. Heaven sued
Pender for negligence. A jury returned a verdict for Heaven. Pender appealed. An intermediate
court reversed and dismissed the action. Heaven appealed that reversal and dismissal.

It was held by Brett MR – minority that

Whenever one person is by circumstances placed in such a position with regard to another that
everyone of ordinary sense who did think would at once recognise that if he did not use ordinary
care and skill in his own conduct with regard to those circumstances he would cause danger of
injury to the person or property of the other, a duty arises to use ordinary skill and avoid such
danger.

Tort law should assume a broad view of this area. If any person with ordinary sense realises that
if they did not exercise proper care and skill, damage could be occasioned to another or another's
property from their actions, they should be held liable.

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Court of Appeal

The Master of the Rolls, William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher, suggested that there was a wider duty
to be responsible in tort to those who might be injured if ‘ordinary care and skill’ was not exercised.

Brett MR's obiter views would later be expressly adopted by Lord Atkin in the House of Lords in
Donoghue v Stevenson, when the general concept of a tortious duty of care in negligence was
established under English law.

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STATUTORY INTERPRETATION

The Oxford Dictionary of law refers to a statute as an act of Parliament an defines it as a

document that sets out legal rules and has been passed by the Parliament in the form of a bill and
agreed upon by the Executive or the President An example of a statute can be the Penal Code Act
Cap 120 of Uganda.
The different Terminologies used for Legislation in Uganda are explained as follows:
1. An Act, refers to laws made by the Parliament and assented to by the President. An example is
The Contracts Act 2010, the Local Government’s Act Cap 243.
2. A Statute, refers to a law made by a body established for the purpose of making Legislative
instruments but not an elected legislature. An example are the Statutes the National Resistance
Council established between 1986 and 1995. The Uganda Wildlife Statute of 1996 for example.
3. Decrees, refer to laws made by a ruling authority usually a President in the absence of
afunctional Parliament or legislative body. An example are President Amin’s Decrees such as the
Interpetation Decrees of 1971 and the Land Reform Decree of 1975.
4. Ordinances, laws made on a district level and assented to by the Parliament .Usually authority
is derived from a Parent Act , in this case it is Section 38 of the Local Government Act Cap 243
which gives Districts the powers to enact laws for example ordinances.
5. Rules, refer to Procedural laws which guide certain functions of organs of the state for example
the Civil Procedure Rules which govern the conduct and procedure in Court.
6. Legal Notices, refer to Emergency Laws enacted in the absence of the Constitution to justify a
new regime or order for example Legal Notice 1 of 1986 which was enacted at the advent of the
National Resistance Movement into power in 1986.

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7. Bylaws, laws made on the local council level and assented to by the Parliament. Usually
authority is also derived from a Parent Act in this case it is Section 39 of the Local Government
Act Cap 243 which gives Local Councils the powers to enact laws.
8. Bills , proposed laws tabled before Parliament . An example is the Homosexuality Bill tabled
by Honourable Member of Parliament David Bahati in 2010.
9. Public Acts, refer to laws that affect the general Public for example the Republic of Uganda
Constitution of 1995 Cap 1 , Penal Code Act Cap 120 which lays out the criminal offences
prescribed by our laws and their sanctions.
10. Private Acts, refer to laws that relate to the powers and interests of particular institutions for
example The Advocates Act Cap 267 governing the Legal Practice and Profession.
11. Consolidating Acts, refer to laws that bring together provisions previously contained in
different Acts without altering them under one Act for example The Financial Institutions Act
Cap 54 which combines the Finance Act and the Money Lenders Act Cap 273.

Cross in his book Statutory interpretation refers to a

Long title as a structure of a statute which is set out at the beginning of a statute and usually
containing a general statement of the legislative purpose of the statute (108-109). Interpreting what
Parliament meant in the statute. Literal
An example is the Children’s Act Cap 59 whose long title states,
”An Act to reform and consolidate the law relating to Children, to provide for the care, protection
and maintenance of children…”
Cross describes it as an aid to the ascertainment of the intention of the Parliament (108) The law
relating to the application or use of a long title was discussed in the case of R vs Bates (1952) 2
All ER 842 by Donavan J who stated that in many cases the title may supply the key to the meaning
where words are not clear or ambiguous.
According to Cross the Short Title refers to a structure of the statute which is stated in a separate
section towards the end of the statute acting as a mere identifying label (111-112.) It should be
noted that the short title can also be found at the beginning of most statutes for example the Divorce
Act Cap 249 which identifies the Statute as one relating to the subject of marriage and divorce.

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The short title is not relied on as something that can resolve a doubt where the words in statute are
ambiguous however it is an aid to understanding the scope of a statute in order to construe it. This
was clearly highlighted in the case of Re Boaler (1915) 1 KB 21 in Scrutton J‟sjudgement where
he observed that though the short title
should be given less importance ,relevance should be given to it as an aid to understanding the
scope of a statute in order to interpret it.
Black’s Law Dictionary defines a preamble as an introductory statement in a statute explaining
the document’s basis and objective (1214.)Cross observes that a preamble sets out the facts and
assumptions upon which the statute is based (108-109) It should be noted that the preamble and
the long title are discussed together as they are used in the same way. In most statutes there is a
long title however a preamble is a rarity , an example is the Preamble of the Republic of Uganda
Constitution of1995.And when looking at most statutes , the long title in a statute is taken to also
refer to the Preamble. The law concerning the application of the Preamble was discussed in the
case of AG vs Prince Ernest of Hanover (1957) AC 436. Where Viscount Simonds observed that
assistance may be obtained from the Preamble to a statute in ascertaining the meaning of the
relevant enacting part .where there is an ambiguity.
Black’s Law Dictionary defines a Marginal note as a brief notation in the form of a sub heading
placed in the margin of a printed statute to give a brief indication of the matters to be dealt in the
Section (986.)An example of a statute that makes use of marginal notes is the Local Government
Act Cap 243.According to Cross when citing the case of Chandler vs DPP (1964)AC 763 side
notes cannot be used as aids to construction in any circumstances.
Black’s Law Dictionary defines a Heading as a brief title of a section of a statute (736.) An
example is Section 12 of the Penal Code Act Cap 120 whose heading is titled Intoxication.
According to Cross, headings indicate the scope of sections which follow (112.)A case in point
where the application of headings was highlighted was DPP vs Schildkamp (1969) 3 ALL ER
1640.Lord Reid pointed out that punctuation can be of some assistance in construction. A cross
heading ought to indicate the scope of sections which follow it.”

AN OVERVIEW OF STATUTORY INTERPRETATION: This is the process by which courts

determine the meaning of a statutory provision for purposes of applying it to the situation before
them. Interpretation of law is the primary function of a court, courts are often times called to

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interpret a variety of legal texts ranging from wills, contracts, statutes (principal legislation),
regulations and by laws. In interpreting statutes, the court is not expected to interpret statutes
arbitrarily it is usually guided by certain principals which have been developed over the years.
Example on issues of writing wills you have to be specific.

RULES/ CANONS OF STATUTORY INTERPRETATION

Although they use the word rule they are not rules properly so called as Mac Leod cites the
statement of Lord Raid in the case of Maumsell V. Olins [1975] 1 All. ER 16. “They are not rules
in the ordinary sense of having some binding force, they are our servants not our masters. They
are aids to construction: presumption or pointers not in frequently one rule points in one direction
another in a different direction. In each case we must look at all relevant circumstances and decide
as a matter of judgment what weight to attach to any particular rule”
NB: It is on this ground that although these guides are famously referred to as rules, modern writers
increasingly suggest the use of other terms like principals, approaches, techniques, canons or
maxims.

The principal rules of statutory interpretation are as follows:

An Act must be construed as a whole, so that internal inconsistencies are avoided.

Words that are reasonably capable of only one meaning must be given that meaning whatever the
result. This is called the literal rule.

Ordinary words must be given their ordinary meanings and technical words their technical
meanings, unless absurdity would result. This is the golden rule.

When an Act aims at curing a defect in the law any ambiguity is to be resolved in such a way as
to favour that aim (the mischief rule).

The rule ejusdem generis (of the same kind): when a list of specific items belonging to the same
class is followed by general words (as in “cats, dogs, and other animals”), the general words are
to be treated as confined to other items of the same class (in this example, to other domestic
animals).

The rule expressio unius est exclusio alterius (the express mention of one thing excluded all others;
the inclusion of the one is the exclusion of the other): when a list of specific items is not followed

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by general words it is to be taken as exhaustive. For example, “weekends and public holidays”
excludes ordinary weekdays. For instance, If a statute motions mobile phones and iPad it does not
mean note pads. In the case of Re Vs Inhabitants of Sedgley( 1831) 2B and Ald 65. The poor Relief
act levied taxes on lands, houses and coal mines. The Issue was whether the act could apply to
limestone mines owners It was held that they were not specifically metioned

The rule in pari materia (on the same subject on the like matter): when a prior Act is found to be
“on the like matter” it can be used as an aid in construing the statute in question (R v Loxdale
(1758) 1 Burr 445, 447 (Lord Mansfield); 97 ER 394).(8) Refer to another act that’s almost similar

The rule noscitur a sociis (known by its associates): when a word or phrase is of uncertain meaning,
it should be construed in the light of the surrounding words (Bourne v Norwich Crematorium Ltd
[1967] 2 All ER 576 (Ch) 578). Stamp J sted that words derive colour from those which surround
themAmbiguities may occasionally be resolved by referring to external sources; for example, the
intention of Parliament in regard to a proposed Act, as revealed by ministers during its passage
through Parliament, may be discovered by reference to Hansard (Pepper v Hart [1993] AC 593
(HL). However, the House of Lords has ruled against the existence of an alleged social policy rule,
which would enable an ambiguous Act to be interpreted so as to best give effect to the social policy
underlying it.

(1) An Act must be construed as a whole, so that internal inconsistencies are avoided.

(2) Words that are reasonably capable of only one meaning must be given that meaning whatever
the result. This is called the literal rule.

(3) Ordinary words must be given their ordinary meanings and technical words their technical
meanings, unless absurdity would result. This is the golden rule.

(4) When an Act aims at curing a defect in the law any ambiguity is to be resolved in such a way
as to favour that aim (the mischief rule).

(5) The rule ejusdem generis (of the same kind): when a list of specific items belonging to the
same class is followed by general words (as in “cats, dogs, and other animals”), the general
words are to be treated as confined to other items of the same class (in this example, to other
domestic animals).

What is the meaning of ambiguous?

The case of LANSING MAYOR V. PUBLIC SERVICE COMM 470 Mich 154,166,690, in
which it was found that a statutory provision is ambiguous only if it irreconcilably conflicts with
another statutory provision or it is equally susceptible to more than one meaning. Counsel
submitted that the provisions of S.2 (cc) and those of S.21 (1) are capable of having more than one
meaning.

Counsel for the appellant further submitted that where the meaning of the tax statute is ambiguous,
the tax payer must be given the benefit of doubt and the interpretation should be best calculated to

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give effect to the intention of the legislature in the best interest of the tax payer. Counsel cited the
authorities of STANBIC BANK & ORS V. URA (HCCA No. 170 of 2007) and URA V. SPEKE
HOTEL LTD (CA No. 12 of 2008).

In the case of LAFARGE MIDWEST, INC v. CITY OF DETROIT State of Michigan Court of
Appeals No. 289292, the court defines what amounts to ambiguity in a statute, as follows;

“With regard to the issue of statutory ambiguity, the Lansing Mayor court held, [A] provision of
the law is ambiguous only if it ‘irreconcilably conflicts[s]’ with another provision [Klapp v. United
Ins Agency, Inc, 468 Mich 459, 467; 663 NW2d 447 (2003)], or when it is equally susceptible to
more than one meaning. [Lansing mayor, 470 Mich at 166.]

When is a provision equally susceptible to more than one meaning? The Lansing Mayor Court
held that a “reasonable disagreement” is not the standard for identifying ambiguity. Id. at 168.
That is, “[a] provision is not ambiguous just because ‘reasonable minds can differ regarding’ the
meaning of the provision.” People v. Gardner, 482 Mich 41, 50 n 12; 753 NW2d 78 (2008), quoting
Lansing mayor, 470 Mich at 1665. The Lansing mayor court, quoting Klapp, 468 Mich 474,
concluded that “a finding of ambiguity is to be reached only after ‘all other conventional means
of []interpretation’ have been applied and found wanting.” Lansing mayor, 470 Mich at 165. That
is, “ambiguity is a finding of last resort.” Id, at 165 n 6.

In construing legislation, the literal rule is first used. If this leads to absurdity then the golden rule
and finally the mischief rule may be used.

LITERAL RULE/ PLAIN MEANING RULE/ STRICT APPROACH TO STATUTORY

INTERPRETATION:
The literal approach of interpretation has to be strictly applied. He stated that the court gives force
and life to the interpretation of statutes having regard to the wording of the statutes and the
particular facts.

The law must be read, word for word and should not divert from its true meaning. The rules of
statutory interpretation properly need to be applied in order to make a proper interpretation of what
the makers of the law had in mind.

Words of a statute must be interpreted according to their literal meaning and sentences according
to their grammatical meaning. If the words of the statute are clear and unambiguous and complete
on the face of it, they are conclusive evidence of the legislative intention. This is what is today is
referred to as the literal rule of statutory interpretation, and was defined in Wicks V. DPP
(1947)A.C 362

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In the Supreme Court case of Hon. Theodore Ssekikubo & Others V. The Attorney General and
4 Ors, Constitutional Appeal no.1 of 2015, this rule of statutory interpretation was applied by the
court in interpreting Article 83(1) of the constitution, and it was held that, “…’leave’ as it is used
in Article 83(1)(g) is plain, clear and unambiguous, and must be interpreted using the literal rule
of statutory interpretation.”

The Registered Trustees of Kampala Institute v. Departed Asians Property Custodian Board,
SCCA no.21 of 1993, (followed by the Court of Appeal in Crane Bank v. URA CA no.96 of 2012
where it was held that;

“It is a wrong thing to read into an Act of Parliament words which are not there and in the
absence of clear necessity. It is a wrong thing to do so...”

It provides that where the words of the provisions of a statute are clear, the courts ought to apply
the words as they are even where the interpretation of the statutes leads to something which is
unreasonable or absurd, it Is not the duty of the court to make sense of the provisions of the statutes,
that is the work of the legislature meaning they make the laws. They should not only be clear but
also make sense so as to give the actual meaning that was intended to by the legislature even if the
result is absurd. There is a case of R V. Judge of the City of London (1892) QB 273. Lord Esher
said “ if the words of an Act are clear, you must follow them even though they lead to a manifest
absurdity, the court has nothing to do with the question of whether the legislature has committed
an absurdity” there is another case of Hill V. West India Dock Co. Ltd. ( 1894) 448 . “I think it I
infinitely better, although an absurdity or other objectionable results may be evolved as a result of
your construction, to adhere to the words of an Act of Parliament and leave the legislature to set
its rights than to alter those words according to one notion of what amounts to absurdity. Also in
the case of Bell V. Fisher. Also in the case of Whiteley V. Chappel (1868) 4 LR 147. Also in the
case of Singida Regional Trading Co. Ltd V. Tanzania Posts and Telecommunication Corp. 1979
LRT 11. Chipeta J said “it is true that a victim of an error in a telegram, such as the defendants,
may raise eye brows about the fairness of the provisions, but that is not a moral question. Courts
may not question the morality of statutory law. All they are to do is to discover what the legislature
has said and meant and to find out, from the language used in the statute, whether it has said what
it meant and meant what is has said”.

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ADVANTAGES OF THE PLAIN MEANING RULE

❖ It is the only guarantee of ascertaining (correct) the meaning of a statute because of length and
details of modern legislation.
❖ If a statute is long, then the legislature has expressed its full meaning and therefore there is no
need to look for any other additional meaning. It is long and all explanations are there is no need
to add more.
❖ Authorities have argued that anything that has been omitted in a statute is “Casus Omissus”
(omitted with knowledge) and if the court supplied anything to it that will amount to legislating
which is not the business of the court in the case of Hassan railways and Trade Co V. Inland (1935)
QB 445 Lord Right said “ a duty of a court is to interpret the words that have been used by the
legislature, even where the words are ambiguous, the power of the court to travel outside them on
a voyage of discovering is limited”
❖ The plain meaning rule promotes certainty

❖ Complies with the doctrine of separation of powers

DISADVANTAGES/CRITICS OF THE PLAIN MEANING RULE

❖ It is based on the false premise that words have ordinary and standard meaning apart from the
context in which they are used.
 Using the literal rule only for the word farming would cause an absurdity as it restricts the
definitions in the ITA, and defeats the purpose for which the section was inserted.
❖ It relies in most cases on a definition Heavens by a dictionary where as a dictionary itself
usually gives out different meaning of a word.
❖ This rule makes no room for natural ambiguities of language, it pre supposes that the draftsmen
can not make natural mistakes and also they can predict the future with certainty.
❖ It is not based on reason and principal but on the arbitral rule preference of the judge. This
means it does not attract any kind of reasoning. WHITELEY V. CHAPPEL (1868) 4 LR 147.

GOLDEN RULE:

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The golden rule also known as “Lord Wensleydale’s golden rule” is a cardinal canon of
construction which requires that words in a legal instrument, are to be given their plain ordinary
meaning. This implies that a court may depart from the ordinary meaning where that would lead
to absurdity was first enunciated in Grey v Pearson (1857) 6 4LC 61 as follows:

“In construing wills, and indeed statutes and all written instruments, the grammatical and
ordinary sense of the words is to be adhered to, unless that would lead to some absurdity, or some
repugnance or inconsistency with the rest of the instrument, in which case the grammatical and
ordinary sense of the words may be modified so as to avoid the absurdity and inconsistency, but
no further.”

The only applies where the words are ambiguous. An interpretation that is not absurd is to be
preferred to one that is. An example is:

The rule provided no clear means to test the existence of the characteristics of absurdity,
inconsistency or inconvenience, or to measure their quality or extent.

Meaning of Absurdity- As it seemed that “absurdity” was in practice judged by reference to

whether a particular interpretation was irreconcilable with the general policy of the legislature “the
golden rule turns out to be a less explicit form of the mischief rule”. Grey v Pearson (1857) 6
4LC 61.

In more modern times, the courts have consistently upheld this plain meaning rule, with each court
laying emphasis on different facets of that concept. For instance, in Dupont Steel v Sirs [1980]
All ER at 541, LORD DIPLOCK emphasised that:

“Where the meaning of the statutory word is plain and unambiguous, it is not for the Judges to
invent fancied ambiguities as an excuse for failing to give effect to that plain meaning.”

To ascribe to the word “money” the meaning of “goods (such as iron sheets) supplied on credit” -
which is now sought by the Defendants - would, in my view, amount to no less than an invention
of fanciful ambiguities over and above the plain meaning of the words “a sum of money.” Such

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inventions are the kind that LORD DIPLOCK admonished, not only in the above Dupont Steel
case, but also in the case of IRC v Rossminster Ltd 119801 AC 952 at 1008 - thus:

“Courts must not be over-zealous to search for ambiguities or obscurities in words which on the
face of them are plain...”

Equally, it is a cardinal rule of interpretation that a power of attorney

is to be construed strictly.

In this regard, see the case of Sidpra &

Sidpra v Uganda Rehabilitation Development Foundation, High
Court Civil Suit No. 199 of 1993

in which TSEKOOKO J (as his

Lordship of the Supreme Court then was) quoting a number of
English authorities, cited LORD MACNAGHTEN’s observation in
Bryant Powis & Bryant Ltd v Larbargue du Peuple [1893] ACT
170, to the effect that:

“... Powers of Attorney are to be construed strictly, that is to say, that where an act purporting to
be done under a power of attorney is challenged as being in excess of the authority conferred by
the power, it is necessary to show that on a fair construction of the whole instrument the authority
in question is to be found in the four corners of the instrument, either in express terms or by
necessary implication.

The law on misuse of social media which penalized sharing information prohibited under
Uganda’s laws.

This is a modification of the plain meaning rule, although the court has a limit as to avoid that
particular absurdity. An absurdity is determined by the judge themselves.
This is a modification of the literal or grammatical rule of interpretation, it states that ordinarily
the court must find out the intention of the legislature from words used in the statutes by giving
them their natural meaning but if this leaves to absurdity, repugnant, inconvenience, hardship,

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injustice or evasion the court must modify the meaning to such an extent and no further as would
prevent such a consequence sometimes it is referred to as a liberal approach to statutory
interpretation

ADVANTAGES
❖ Protects the integrity of the courts by allowing the judges to side step absurdity.
❖ It gives room for a judge to arrive at a desirable result.

❖ Allows the court to make open exceptions that are based on political and social policies behind
the act.
DISADVANTAGES
❖ It makes it difficult to predict what was considered by a judge to be an absurdity, this would
lead to uncertainty in the legal system making business unpredictable and becomes difficult to rely
on precedents.
❖ The rule is silent on what the court should do when it comes across an acceptable absurdity.

MIS CHIEF RULE / THE RULE IN HEYDON’S CASE:

Because it was initiated in this case. This rules aims at asking a question, (a mischief) means reason
behind. Many rules were formed.
This is a rule that examines the intentions of the legislature in passing that particular statute
, it is designed to assist the court , to consider why the statute was passed in the past days, then,
the court is invited to apply that knowledge in giving the words under consideration whatever
meaning that will best suit the social purpose of the legislation.
NB: mischief rule is far more improved then literal and golden rule. The approach was advanced
in the famous case, Heydon’s case (1584) 76 ER 637. According to this case there are 4 points to
be considered by a court when construing a statute using the mischief rule.
POINTS
❖ What was the common law before making the act on the matter.

❖ What was the mischief and defect for which the common law did not provide, that is
to say what is the problem underline the society.

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❖ What remedy has the legislature resolved and appointed to cure the mischief

❖ What was the true reason for the remedy in the eyes of the judge construing the provision with
a view to get rid of the mischief by making sure that he addresses the intention of an Act.
READ the case of SEA FOOD COURT V. ASIA Lord Denning said “ it would certainly serve
judge’s trouble if Acts of Parliament were drafted with divine prescience and perfect clarity.

In the absence of it, when a defect appears, the judge simply cannot fold his hands and blame the
drafts man.
ADVANTAGES OF MISCHIEF RULE:
 It is a great improvement of golden and literal rule in the sense that it encourages the court
have regard the context of the doubt
 It is only sensible to permit the courts to go beyond the narrow confines so that it may
consider the social circumstances of the provision that is not clear.
DISADANVANTAGES OF THE MISCHIEF RULE:
The rule does not tell the court where to get the Mischief.

-PURPOSIVE APPROACH TO STATUTORY INTERPRETATION: (MODIFICATION

OF THE MISCHIEF RULE)

Apart from the traditional 3 rules of interpretation the courts has in recent years increasingly
applied the so called purposive approach to statutory interpretation.
-Purposive approach is a way of interpreting a statute by considering the intention of the law maker
not only by considering the 4 corners of the statutes but by also looking at extraneous aids example
Hansards (books that record proceedings in the parliament) etc. sometimes the courts may read in
words in a statute for purposes of fulfilling the intentions of the legislature where it finds that there
is a mistaken omission by the legislature. This is a process where the court can also go outside the
court and look for other extraneous aids, and there the court may found out that there are some
words which have been forgotten so they can read in new words that will cover that omission.

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The courts adopt a purposive approach which seeks to gives effect to the true purpose of legislation
and are prepared to look at much extraneous materials that bares on the background against which
the legislation was enacted.

Lord Griffiths in the case of Pepper V. Hart [1993] 1 All ER 42 at pg 50, also held that

“The days have long passed when the courts adopted a strict constructionist view of
interpretation which required them to adopt a literal meaning of the language. The court must
adopt a purposive approach which seeks to give effect to the true purpose of the legislation and
are prepared to look at much extraneous material that bears on the background against which
the legislation was enacted.”

Thus in the case of Theodore Ssekikubo and others v. Attorney General, the constitutional court
was faced with the interpretation of the word “leave” under Article 127(1)(g) of the constitution.
The court interpreted the word ‘leave’ to mean ‘go way, stop leaving in, and stop working for.’
However, on appeal to the Supreme court, the court faulted to follow the constitutional court’s
definition of the word ‘leave’. The court stated that;
“We think that majority of the justices of the constitutional court must have in law taken the word
‘leave’ out of the context it was used in Article 127(1)(g), and try to interpret it in isolation of the
rest of the words used in Article 127(1)(g).”

Instead of confining itself to the mischief the statute intended to correct The position of the law
is that if any doubt arises from the words used in the statute, where the literal meaning yields
more than one interpretation, the purposive approach may be used, to determine the intention of
the law maker in enacting of the statute. (See Justice Choudry in the case of UGANDA
REVENUE AUTHORITY V. SPEKE HOTEL(1996) LTD (CA No. 12 of 2008).The
purposive approach has been used in several cases. In the case of the SUSSEX PEERAGE
(1844) 8 ER 1034 at 1057, it was held that

“If the words of the statute are in themselves precise and unambiguous, then no more can be
necessary than to expound those words in their natural and ordinary sense. The words

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themselves alone do in such case best declare the intention of the law giver but if any doubt
arises from the terms employed by the legislature, it has always been held a safe means of
collecting the intention to call in aid the grounds and cause of enacting the statute and to have
recourse to the preamble which according to Dire CJ is ‘a key to open the minds of the makers
of the Act and the mischiefs they intend to redress.”

AIDS TO INTERPRETATION
An Aid, is a device that helps or assists. For the purpose of construction or interpretation, the court
has to take recourse to various internal and external aids.
Internal aids mean those materials which are available in the statute itself, though they may not be
part of enactment. These internal aids include, long title, preamble, headings, marginal notes,
illustrations, punctuation, proviso, schedule, transitory provisions, etc. When internal aids are not
adequate, court has to take recourse to External aids. External Aids may be parliamentary material,
historical background, reports of a committee or a commission, official statement, dictionary
meanings, foreign decisions, etc.
B. Prabhakar Rao and others v State of A.P. and others, AIR 1986 SC 120 O.Chennappa, Reddy
J. has observed : “Where internal aids are not forthcoming, we can always have recourse to external
aids to discover the object of the legislation. External aids are not ruled out. This is now a well
settled principle of modern statutory construction.”
District Mining Officer and others v Tata Iron & Steel Co. and another, (2001) 7 SCC 358
Supreme Court has observed: “It is also a cardinal principle of construction that external aids are
brought in by widening the concept of context as including not only other enacting provisions of
the same statute, but its preamble, the existing state of law, other statutes in pari materia and the
mischief which the statute was intended to remedy.”
K.P. Varghese v Income Tax Officer Ernakulam, AIR 1981 SC 1922 The Supreme Court has
stated that interpretation of statute being an exercise in the ascertainment of meaning, everything
which is logically relevant should be admissible.

INTERNAL AIDS TO INTERPRETATION

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“Internal aids” mean those aids which are available in the statute itself. Each and every part of an
enactment helps in interpretation. However, it is important to decipher as to whether these parts
can be of any help in the interpretation of the statute.

The Internal aids to interpretation may be as follows:

a. Title

Long title – The Long Title of a Statute is an internal part of the statute and is admissible as an
aid to its construction. Statute is headed by a long title and it gives the description about the
object of an Act. It begins with the words- “An Act to ………….” For e.g. The long title of the
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 is – “An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to
criminal procedure”. In recent times, long title has been used by the courts to interpret certain
provision of the statutes. However, it’s useful only to the extent of removing the ambiguity and
confusions and is not a conclusive aid to interpret the provision of the statute. In the case of
Kasampa Kalifani vs Uganda Revenue Authority High Court Civil Suit No.579/2007 , Justice
Yorukamu Bamwine (as he then was), in echoing the words of Lord Denning, stated that Acts of
Parliament are construed according to their object and intent.

To establish the object and intent of Parliament, when enacting the Parliament (Remuneration of
members) Act, Cap 259, we could use the internal aids to construction such as the Title to the
act, the preamble, the Punctuation, headings, schedules, interpretation clauses among others to
easily ascertain what they envisaged.

The long title to the Parliament (Remuneration of Members) Act, states,

“An Act to consolidate the law relating to the remuneration of members of parliament; to make
provision for the remuneration of past presidents and vice presidents and other purposes
connected therewith.”

In Re Kerala Education bill, the Supreme Court held that the policy and purpose may be deduced
from the long title and the preamble. In Manohar Lal v State of Punjab, Long title of the Act is
relied as a guide to decide the scope of the Act.

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Although the title is a part of the Act, it is in itself not an enacting provision and though useful in
case of ambiguity of the enacting provisions, is ineffective to control their clear meaning.

Short Title - The short title of an Act is for the purpose of reference & for its identification. It
ends with the year of passing of the Act. E.g. “The Indian Penal Code, 1860”; “The Indian
Evidence Act, 1872”. The Short Title is generally given at the beginning with the words- “This
Act may be called……………” For e.g Section 1 of The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, says –“This
Act may be called, The Indian Evidence Act, 1872”. Even though short title is the part of the
statute, it does not have any role in the interpretation of the provisions of an Act.

b. Preamble
The main objective and purpose of the Act are found in the Preamble of the Statute. Preamble is
the Act in a nutshell. It is a preparatory statement. It contains the recitals showing the reason for
enactment of the Act. If the language of the Act is clear the preamble must be ignored. The
preamble is an intrinsic aid in the interpretation of an ambiguous act.
If any doubts arise from the terms employed by the Legislature, it has always been held a safe
means of collecting the intention to call in aid the ground and cause of making the statute and to
have recourse to the preamble. In Kashi Prasad v State, the court held that even though the
preamble cannot be used to defeat the enacting clauses of a statute, it can be treated as a key for
the interpretation of the statute.
c. Headings and Title of a Chapter
Headings are of two kinds – one prefixed to a section and other prefixed to a group or set of
sections. Heading is to be regarded as giving the key to the interpretation and the heading may be
treated as preambles to the provisions following them. In Krishnaih V. State of (A.P. AIR 2005
AP 10) it was held that headings prefixed to sections cannot control the plain words of the
provisions. Only in the case of ambiguity or doubt, heading or sub-heading may be referred to as
an aid in construing provision.
In Durga Thathera v Narain Thathera, the court held that the headings are like a preamble which
helps as a key to the mind of the legislature but do not control the substantive section of the
enactment.

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d. Marginal Notes
Marginal notes are the notes which are inserted at the side of the sections in an Act and express
the effect of the sections stated. Marginal notes appended to the Articles of the Constitution have
been held to constitute part of the constitution as passed by the constituent assembly and therefore
they have been made use of in construing the articles.

Marginal notes (also known as head notes) are “the short notations appearing above or beside
each section […] of an Act or Regulation” (Sullivan on the Construction of Statutes, 6th ed.,
§14.59). These notes are intended to help readers identify pertinent provisions in the legislation.
The name comes from the fact that they originally appeared in the margins of legislation next to
the relevant provisions.

Despite appearing in an act or regulation, marginal notes are not actually part of that legislation.
Sullivan is rather disapproving of this:

“Although technically marginal notes are not considered part of legislation, in fact they are
physically present and may well constitute the most frequently read component of many Acts
and regulations. To ignore whatever light they shed on the meaning of legislation seems artificial
and appropriate.” (§14.60)

That said, there are several cases in which marginal notes have been used for legislative
interpretation (e.g. R. v. A.D.H., 2013 SCC 28) but this is not uniformly the case. For example, in
Imperial Oil Ltd. v. Canada; Inco Ltd. v. Canada, 2006 SCC 46, it says at paragraph 57
“although marginal notes are not entirely devoid of usefulness, their value is limited for a court
that must address a serious problem of statutory interpretation.”

Because marginal notes aren’t officially part of legislation, the process of amending them does
not necessarily involve an act or regulation. For example, in British Columbia they are amended
by the publications staff, not the legislature:

“On this basis, marginal notes are not amended by legislation. They are changed editorially by
our publications staff in consultation with legislative counsel. This is done most commonly in
conjunction with a legislative amendment to the relevant section, so that the marginal note will

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better reflect the content of the section.” (A Guide to Legislation and Legislative Process in
British Columbia)

This leads to situations in which the only way to know if a marginal note has changed is by
looking at the most recent copy of the consolidation produced by that jurisdiction’s

In Wilkes v Goodwin, the Court held that the side notes are not part of the Act and hence marginal
notes cannot be referred.

Limitations of Marginal Notes as Internal Aid to Construction

 Marginal notes are very rarely used for interpretation as they are not considered to be a
good aid to construction.
 Only those marginal notes can be used for construing a provision which have been inserted
with assent of the legislature.
 Marginal notes can be called in aid only when language suffers from ambiguity and more
than one construction is possible.
 Marginal notes cannot frustrate the effect of a clear provision.

e. Definitional Sections/ Clauses

The object of a definition is to avoid the necessity of frequent repetitions in describing the subject
matter to which the word or expression defined is intended to apply.
A definition contained in the definition clause of a particular statute should be used for the purpose
of that Act. Definition from any other statute cannot be borrowed and used ignoring the definition
contained in the statute itself.

f. Illustrations
Illustrations in enactment provided by the legislature are valuable aids in the understanding the
real scope. In Mahesh Chandra Sharma V.Raj Kumari Sharma, (AIR 1996 SC 869), it was held
that illustrations are parts of the Section and help to elucidate the principles of the section.

g. Proviso

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The normal function of a proviso is to except and deal with a case which would otherwise fall
within the general language of the main enactment, and its effect is confined to that case. There
may be cases in which the language of the statute may be so clear that a proviso may be construed
as a substantive clause. But whether a proviso is construed as restricting the main provision or as
a substantive clause, it cannot be divorced from the provision to which it stands as a proviso. It
must be construed harmoniously with the main enactment.” [CIT vs. Ajax Products Ltd. (1964) 55
ITR 741 (SC)]

h. Explanations
An Explanation is added to a section to elaborate upon and explain the meaning of the words
appearing in the section. An Explanation to a statutory provision has to be read with the main
provision to which it is added as an Explanation. An Explanation appended to a section or a sub-
section becomes an integral part of it and has no independent existence apart from it.
The purpose of an Explanation is not to limit the scope of the main section. An Explanation is
quite different in nature from a proviso; the latter excludes, excepts and restricts while the former
explains, clarifies or subtracts or includes something by introducing a legal fiction.

i. Schedules
Schedules form part of a statute. They are at the end and contain minute details for working out
the provisions of the express enactment. The expression in the schedule cannot override the
provisions of the express enactment.

j. Punctuation
Punctuation is a minor element in the construction of a statute. Only when a statute is carefully
punctuated and there is no doubt about its meaning can weight be given to punctuation. It cannot,
however, be regarded as a controlling element for determining the meaning of a statute.”

EXTERNAL AIDS TO INTERPRETATION

When internal aids are not adequate, court has to take recourse to external aids.

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The external aids are very useful tools for the interpretation or construction of statutory provisions.
As opposed to internal aids to construction there are certain aids which are external to the statute.
Such aids will include parliamentary history of the legislation, historical facts and surrounding
circumstances in which the statute came to be enacted, reference to other statutes, use of
dictionaries, use of foreign decisions, etc.
Some of the external aids used in the interpretation of statutes are as follows:

a. Parliamentary History, Historical Facts and Surrounding Circumstances

Historical setting cannot be used as an aid if the words are plain and clear. If the wordings are
ambiguous, the historical setting may be considered in order to arrive at the proper construction.
Historical setting covers parliamentary history, historical facts, statement of objects and reasons,
report of expert committees. Parliamentary history means the process by which an act is enacted.
This includes conception of an idea, drafting of the bill, the debates made, the amendments
proposed etc. Speech made in mover of the bill, amendments considered during the progress of
the bill are considered in parliamentary history where as the papers placed before the cabinet which
took the decision for the introduction of the bill are not relevant since these papers are not placed
before the parliament. The historical facts of the statute that is the external circumstances in which
it was enacted in should also be taken into note so that it can be understood that the
statute in question was intended to alter the law or leave it where it stood. Statement of objective
and reasons as to why the statute is being brought to enactment can also be a very helpful fact in
the research for historical facts, but the same if done after extensive amendments in statute it may
be unsafe to attach these with the statute in the end. It is better to use the report of a committee
before presenting it in front of the legislature as they guide us with a legislative intent and place
their recommendations which come in handy while enactment of the bill.
The Supreme Court in a numbers of cases referred to debates in the Constituent Assembly for
interpretation of Constitutional provisions. Recently, the Supreme Court in S.R. Chaudhuri v State
of Punjab and others, (2001) 7 SCC 126 has stated that it is a settled position that debates in the
Constituent Assembly may be relied upon as an aid to interpret a Constitutional provision because
it is the function of the Court to find out the intention of the framers of the Constitution. (Para 33)
But as far as speeches in Parliament are concerned, a distinction is made between speeches of the
mover of the Bill and speeches of other Members. Regarding speeches made by the Members of

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the Parliament at the time of consideration of a Bill, it has been held that they are not admissible
as extrinsic aids to the interpretation of the statutory provision. However, speeches made by the
mover of the Bill or Minister may be referred to for the purpose of finding out the object intended
to be achieved by the Bill. (K.S. Paripoornan v State of Kerala and others, AIR 1995 SC 1012)
So far as Statement of Objects and Reasons, accompanying a legislative bill is concerned, it is
permissible to refer to it for understanding the background, the antecedent state of affairs, the
surrounding circumstances in relation to the statute and the evil which the statute sought to remedy.
But, it cannot be used to ascertain the true meaning and effect of the substantive provision of the
statute. (Devadoss (dead) by L. Rs, v. Veera Makali Amman Koil Athalur, AIR 1998 SC 750.)
Reports of Commissions including Law Commission or Committees including Parliamentary
Committees preceding the introduction of a Bill can also be referred to in the Court as evidence of
historical facts or of surrounding circumstances or of mischief or evil intended to be remedied.
Law Commission’s Reports can also be referred to where a particular enactment or amendment is
the result of recommendations of Law Commission Report. The Supreme Court in Rosy and
another v State of Kerala and others, (2000) 2 SCC 230 considered Law Commission of India, 41st
Report for interpretation of section 200 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

Crane Bank v Uganda Revenue Authority (HCT-00-CC-CA 18 of 2010) [2012] UGCommC

42 (08 May 2012); [2012] UGCommC 4

The Minister’s intention in the budget speech must be translated into clear unambiguous language
in order to be implemented. According to counsel for the respondent, the mischief that the budget
speech was intended address was the lack of financing to the large portion of Ugandans engaged
in primary agriculture and this was achieved by the enactment of S.21 (1) (u) of the ITA but that
it was not meant to cure any gap between the meaning of farming and agriculture as submitted by
the applicant. In the case of WELLCOME INC. V. THE GLAYO QUEEN 1996 ICTC 96 DTC
161 TCC referred to by both counsels in this case, reference to budget speeches and papers has
been accepted by the courts in interpretation of statutes.

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In this case, the purpose of the Act can be established from the Minister’s budget speech for the
year 2005/2006 at pg 45, which reads as follows;

b. Social, Political and Economic Developments and Scientific Inventions

A Statute must be interpreted to include circumstances or situations which were unknown or did
not exist at the time of enactment of the statute. Any relevant changes in the social conditions
and technology should be given due weightage. Courts should take into account all these
developments while construing statutory provisions.
In S.P. Gupta v Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 149, it was stated - “The interpretation of every
statutory provision must keep pace with changing concepts and values and it must, to the extent to
which its language permits or rather does not prohibit, suffer adjustments through judicial
interpretation so as to accord with the requirement of the fast changing society which is undergoing
rapid social and economic transformation … It is elementary that law does not operate in a vacuum.
It is, therefore, intended to serve a social purpose and it cannot be interpreted without taking into
account the social, economic and political setting in which it is intended to operate. It is here that
the Judge is called upon to perform a creative function. He has to inject flesh and blood in the dry
skeleton provided by the legislature and by a process of dynamic interpretation, invest it with a
meaning which will harmonise the law with the prevailing concepts and values and make it an
effective instrument for delivery of justice.” (Para 62)
Therefore, court has to take into account social, political and economic developments and scientific
inventions which take place after enactment of a statute for proper construction of its provision.

c. Reference to Other Statutes:

In case where two Acts have to be read together, then each part of every act has to be construed as
if contained in one composite Act. However, if there is some clear discrepancy then the latter Act
would modify the earlier. Where a single provision of one Act has to be read or added in another,
then it has to be read in the sense in which it was originally construed in the first Act. In this way
the whole of the first Act can be mentioned or referred in the second Act even though only a
provision of the first one was adopted. In case where an old Act has been repealed, it loses its

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operative force. Nevertheless, such a repealed part may still be taken into account for construing
the unrepealed part.
For the purpose of interpretation or construction of a statutory provision, courts can refer to or can
take help of other statutes. It is also known as statutory aids. The General Clauses Act, 1897 is an
example of statutory aid.
The application of this rule of construction has the merit of avoiding any contradiction between a
series of statutes dealing with the same subject, it allows the use of an earlier statute to throw light
on the meaning of a phrase used in a later statute in the same context. On the same logic when
words in an earlier statute have received an authoritative exposition by a superior court, use of
same words in similar context in a later statute will give rise to a presumption that the legislature
intends that the same interpretation should be followed for construction of those words in the later
statute.

d. Dictionaries:

When a word is not defined in the statute itself, it is permissible to refer to dictionaries to find
out the general sense in which that word is understood in common parlance. However, in the
selection of one out of the various meanings of a word, regard must always be had to the scheme,
context and legislative history. of PINNER V. EVERETT [1969] 3 ALL ER 257 and
MCCORMICK v. HORSEPOWER LTD [1981] 2 ALL ER 746,751.

Crane Bank v Uganda Revenue Authority (HCT-00-CC-CA 18 of 2010) [2012] UGCommC

42 (08 May 2012);

Furthermore, counsel for the respondent submitted that the TAT noted that the ordinary meaning
of the word farming was to be found in the Advanced Learners Dictionary and that according to
the ejusdem generis rule of interpretation, the phrase ‘similar operations’ at the end of the
provision means ‘to be included the activities which must be similar in nature to the ones
enumerated before’, and thus the processing, exporting of coffee and fish are not words similar
to growing coffee and fish. If the legislature had intended that the whole chain of agribusiness be
included then, it would have specifically provided so.

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e. Judicial Decisions:
When judicial pronouncements are been taken as reference it should be taken into note that the
decisions referred are Indian, if they are foreign it should be ensured that such a foreign country
follows the same system of jurisprudence as ours and that these decisions have been taken in the
ground of the same law as ours. These foreign decisions have persuasive value only and are not
binding on Indian courts and where guidance is available from binding Indian decisions; reference
to foreign decisions is of no use.

f. Other materials
Similarly, Supreme Court used information available on internet for the purpose of interpretation
of statutory provision in Ramlal v State of Rajasthan, (2001) 1 SCC 175. Courts also refer passages
and materials from text books and articles and papers published in the journals. These external
aids are very useful tools not only for the
proper and correct interpretation or construction of statutory provision, but also for understanding
the object of the statute, the mischief sought to be remedied by it, circumstances in which it was
enacted and many other relevant matters. In the absence of the admissibility of these external aids,
sometimes court may not be in a position to do justice in a case

I am guided by the Judgment of His Lordship Hon. JSC Kenneth Kakuru in Lumweno & Co
Advocates versus TransAfrica Assurance Co. Ltd Court of Appeal Civil Appeal No. 95 of
2004 where he held that “… I think the intention of the legislature has to be ascertained from the
statute. It cannot be inferred from what court considers to be logical. It is too subjective a test.
Judges are not called up to apply their opinions of sound policy so as to modify the plain meaning
of statutory words unless of course doing otherwise would result into an absurdity or would lead
to manifest injustice. (See Nokes vs. Doncaster Amalgamated Colieries [1940] AC 1014 and
Mattison versus Hert [1854] 23 LJ CP 108.

I would borrow the words of Lord Loreburn L.C in Vickers versus Evans [1910] AC at P.444
where he states that;

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“It is a strong thing to read into an act of Parliament words which are not there and in
absence of clear necessity, it is a wrong thing to do”

The interpretation of the provision of the law by the second respondent, in essence forms the
foundation of this application before this honourable court. In interpreting section 3 of the
Parliament (Remuneration of Members) Act, the second respondent inserts the word “Living” to
form part of the prerequisites for a former holder of the office of president to qualify for the
allowance payable under the act.

The rules of statutory interpretation properly need to be applied in order to make a proper
interpretation of what the makers of the law had in mind.

Words of a statute must be interpreted according to their literal meaning and sentences according
to their grammatical meaning. If the words of the statute are clear and unambiguous and
complete on the face of it, they are conclusive evidence of the legislative intention. This is what
is today is referred to as the literal rule of statutory interpretation, and was defined in Wicks V.
DPP (1947)A.C 362

In the Supreme Court case of Hon. Theodore Ssekikubo & Others V. The Attorney General and
4 Ors, Constitutional Appeal no.1 of 2015, this rule of statutory interpretation was applied by
the court in interpreting Article 83(1) of the constitution, and it was held that, “…’leave’ as it is
used in Article 83(1)(g) is plain, clear and unambiguous, and must be interpreted using the
literal rule of statutory interpretation.”

Therefore, the wording of section 3(1) of the Parliament (Remuneration of Members) Act is clear
to the effect that “Parliament may, by a resolution supported by votes of not less than half of
all members of parliament, authorize the payment to a former holder of the office of president
or of Vice President of an allowance not less than two thirds of the salary of the President or
of the Vice President, respectively.” And it is prudent that when court is to interpret this
provision, the words of the statute have to be given their ordinary meaning to ascertain if the
same make sense. It’s trite law that a word cannot be inserted in a statute while interpreting it

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where the legislature did not use such word. The wording of this provision is very clear, that a
person has to be a former holder of the office of the president, so as to be entitled to an
allowance as passed by a parliamentary resolution.

Whether or not the former holder of the office of the president is alive or dead by the time a
parliamentary resolution is passed for them to be paid under that provision is immaterial, which
aspect we believe the legislature were aware of at the time of enacting this law and for a person
to construe the same in that regard, would be misinterpreting the provision.

The two former members of the Presidential Commission, that is Justice Saulo Musoke and
Justice Polycarp Nyamuchoncho were/are “…former holders of the office of President...” and
that prerequisite under section 3 of the act is clear and unambiguous, for which the second
respondent should have paid attention to and put into consideration when making her decision as
communicated in the letter dated 8th May 2017.

The law must be read, word for word and should not divert from its true meaning.

It was the submission of the applicant’s counsel, that the decision of the second respondent as
communicated through her letter dated 8th may 2017, was illegal as the same was based on a
wrong interpretation of the law, and accordingly contravened the provisions of the Parliament
(Remuneration of Members) Act.

Often times, courts apply the Mischief rule/Purposive rule of statutory interpretation, where the
words of the statute are not clear, then recourse must be made to the spirit of the statute.

It is firstly the applicant’s submission that the words of the provisions in the Parliament
(Remuneration of Members) Act, Section 3 are Clear and unambiguous and therefore, no
recourse must be made to the spirit of the statute.

The supreme court in the case of Hon. Theodore Ssekikubo & Others V. The Attorney General
and 4 Ors, Constitutional Appeal no.1 of 2015, in reacting to the application of the purposive
rule where the words of the statute were clear by the lower court, had this to say,

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“The Constitutional court itself found that the word ‘leave’ as it is used in Article 83(1)(g) is
plain, clear and unambiguous, and must be interpreted using the literal rule of statutory
interpretation. However, inspite of this finding it went out of the provision of the constitution
itself to look for aid elsewhere for its interpretation. We respectfully think that this was an
error on the part of majority justices of the constitutional court. The words of Article 83(1)(g)
being plain, clear and unambiguous should not have necessitated the Constitutional court
going to the Hansard to look for their interpretation”

However, since the decision of the second respondent was based on the guidance of a legal
opinion by the solicitor general, wherein the solicitor general stated, “… At the time of passing
the resolution, only Mr. Wacha Olwol was alive. The other two were deceased. The payment of
allowance envisaged under s.3 of the Parliament (Remuneration of Members) Act is for a living
former president/vice president. The section was not meant to cater for the deceased Presidents
benefits and emolument nor for their estates…”

With emphasis on the word “Envisaged” as highlighted from the above text, it seems that the
solicitor general was adopting the purposive rule of statutory interpretation, whereby his opinion
was looking at what was envisaged, or what was the intention of the law makers at the time of
enacting the said law. And for that reason, we shall go ahead and make further submission under
this rule of statutory interpretation.

In the case of Kasampa Kalifani vs Uganda Revenue Authority High Court Civil Suit
No.579/2007 , Justice Yorukamu Bamwine (as he then was), in echoing the words of Lord
Denning, stated that Acts of Parliament are construed according to their object and intent.

To establish the object and intent of Parliament, when enacting the Parliament (Remuneration of
members) Act, Cap 259, we could use the internal aids to construction such as the Title to the
act, the preamble, the Punctuation, headings, schedules, interpretation clauses among others to
easily ascertain what they envisaged.

The long title to the Parliament (Remuneration of Members) Act, states,

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“An Act to consolidate the law relating to the remuneration of members of parliament; to make
provision for the remuneration of past presidents and vice presidents and other purposes
connected therewith.”

From the long title of the act, it is our submission that the legislature in intending to show
gratitude to the past presidents of the country, given the political instability in the country prior
to 1981, and having regard to the fact that the leaders at the time did a wonderful job to keep the
country together in such times, the legislature enacted this law to appreciate these leaders for
their work, and in so doing the appreciation through allowances as provided for was not meant to
be enjoyed by a living former president in person.

To insert the aspect of the former holder of the office of president, being alive in order to benefit
from this law, would in no way remedy the “mischief” that the previous laws did not cover.

It is further our submission that the spirit and intent of the legislature in enacting this law was to
protect the country from embarrassment of having her former Presidents and their families living
in destitute or in bad health. Such a scenario would cause embarrassment to the nation.

In line with the above, it should be noted that despite there being an act to provide for a sitting
President at the time, in the form of The Presidential Emoluments and Benefits Act (Now
repealed), there was no provision catering for the past holders of the office of the president, and
that was the mischief that was being cured in enacting the Parliament (Remuneration of
members) Act, wherein the legislature made provision for past holders of the office of president,
with disregard to where they had to be living or dead to benefit from the act.

PRESUMPTIONS APPLIED IN STATUTORY INTERPRETATION

Presumptions; ideas that are taken to be true.
In the cause of statutory interpretation, the courts have also developed certain principals which are
known as presumptions. They assist the courts in interpreting statutory provisions include the
following.

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PRESUMPTION AS TO VALIDITY OF THE STATUTE. Whatever is written in the statute is

presumed to be true and valid.

PRESUMPTION AGAINST RETROSPECTIVE OPERATION OF THE LAW:

LEGISLATION WILL APPLY PROSPECTIVELY REFRENCE TO THE FUTURE CASE
BUT SOME STATUTES APPLY RETROSPECTIVELY.
When a court is dealing with a particular law the presumption that the court has in mind is that
this law should operate prospectively meaning past events or situations in this manner it would be
past laws. INTERPRETATION OF LAWS ACT. There is a strong presumption that statutes
should not be made to Act Retrospectively unless where a statutes expressly provides that it shall
operate. This presumption is said, applies to substantive statutes as opposed to procedural ones
Abdul Mnuye V. R [1990] TLR 13] And Municipality of Mombasa V Nyali 1963 EA 371, New
Bold P said “a retrospective operation will cause miscarriage of justice”.

PRESUMPTION OF STRICT INTERPRETATION OF PENAL STATUTES:

Penal statutes should be strictly interpreted in favor of the accused person, penalty will only be
imposed where the law says punishment should be imposed.
There is age long presumption that criminal or penal statute are to be construed strictly in favor of
the accused person in the case of Dickenson V. Fletcher (1873) LR 9 CP 1 Brett J said “ those who
contend that a penalty may be inflected must show that the words of the Act distinctly enact that
it shall be incurred under the present circumstances. They must fail if the words are merely equally
capable of construction that would, and that one that would not inflict the penalty. In the case of
R. V Mabula Mihambo [1984] TLR, where the court held that among others where the construction
of a delegated legislation results in ambiguities or absurdities or give rise to oppressive doubtful
results, the benefit of doubts should always be given to the accused.

(c) PRESUMPTION IN RESPECT OF TAXATION STATUTES: when the court interprets

taxation statutes they should give strict interpretation on those statutes and a person should pay tax
where the words are clear that a person should pay tax.
Taxation statute should be strictly interpreted in favor of the tax fair. This occurs in the situation
where a tax statute Is capable of 2 alternative meaning then the court will prefer the meaning more

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favorable to the subject, but if clearly worded revenue statutes must be applied even though they
operate against the subject in a manner that may appear to have been unintended by the parliament
in the case of Jaferali Alibhai V. R [1961] EA 610 the court said “where words of the tax statutes
are to be construed, they must be Heavens a clear interpretation and they must not be virgule or
else tax should not be imposed”.

(d) PRESUMPTION ON INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY

In construing a statute construe it in favor of the individual of liberty especially where custodial
sentences are involved. Where the law says when an accused person is convicted of an offence the
court may either impose fines or custodial sentences or both in the case of R V. Hallstrom ex p. W
[ 1986] .. Mac Cullough said “ there is … a canon of construction that parliament is presumed not
to enact legislation which interferes with liberty of the subject without making it clear that this was
the intention in the case of A.G V. Lesinoi Ndeinai [1980]

(e) PRESUMPTION AGAINST PROVISION OUSTING JURISDICTION O FTHE COURT

The decisions of ministers shall not be questioned by any court of law. His decision is final and
conclusive. Therefore, there is a tag of war between the courts of laws and the parliament.
According to this presumption statutory provisions should not be interpreted in such a way as to
oust the jurisdiction of the court. In most cases provisions that purport to oust courts jurisdiction
are construed strictly. Vidyadhar Chavda V. The Director of Immigration Services and Other
[1995] TLR 125 Samata JK said “ any statutory provision which purports to restricts this court’s
jurisdiction, including inherit jurisdiction, must, in the interest of everyone leaving within the
territorial boundaries of the United Republic, be construed strictly” in the case of Mtenga v. UDSM
(1971) HCD 247.

(f )PRESUMPTIONS AS TO PROPERTY RIGHTS

There is a general presumption that a parliament does not intend to take away private property
rights unless the contrary is indicated Lord Atkin in the case of Central Control Board (Liquor
Traffic ) V. Cannon Brewery Co Ltd [1919] AC 744 … Said that “ there is a canon of interpretation
that an intention to take away the property of a subject without giving him a legal rights to

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compensation for the loss of it is not to be imputed to the legislature unless that intention is
expressed in an equivocal terms.

RULES OF LANGUAGE
There are a number of so-called "rules of language" which "simply refer to the way in which people
speak in certain contexts" (Rupert Cross, Statutory Interpretation).
EJUSDEM GENERIS
General words following particular ones normally apply only to such persons or things as
are ejusdem generis (of the same genus or class) as the particular ones. For example:
Powell v Kempton Park Racecourse [1899] AC 143
Concorp International Ltd. Vs. East and Southern Development Bank ((Civil Appeal No 11
Of 2009)) [2010] UGSC 19 (18 October 2010);

In this case the ejusdem generis rule (that a general term describing a list of specific terms denotes
other things that are like the specific elements) was applied to interpret the objectives of the act,
the court concluded that immunity was not intended to extend to third party relationships as these
are not covered by the functionality principle underpinning the act. The court held the appellate
court erred in its finding and instead concluded against immunity.

NOSCITUR A SOCIIS
This tag refers to the fact that words "derive colour from those which surround them" (per Stamp
J. in Bourne v Norwich Crematorium [1967]). For example:
Inland Revenue Commissioners v Frere [1965]AC 402.

Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius:

Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius is a Latin Maxim/Phrase. This is one of the rules used in
Interpretation of Statutes. This Maxim is given to ascertain the intent of the legislature. If the words
of the Statute are plain and its meaning is clear then there is no scope for applying this rule.
Meaning:
The maxim Expressio unios exclusio alterius means that “to express one is to exclude others;
therefore mention of one or more specific things may be taken to exclude others of the same
type.” It is not necessary to add other words to the list in order to make sense of the

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provision. When something is mentioned expressly in a statute it leads to the presumption that the
things not mentioned are excluded.
The effect of this rule means that if a list of words is not followed by general words, the act only
applies to the words used in the list. This is an aid to construction of statutes. This will not be
strictly applied in the event that the act mentions that the words listed are illustrative by the use of
the word ‘includes’ for example, as this suggests that there may be other items which may apply.
That is the words such as Etc., Others, More are used. An act only applies to the items in a list of
words, if it is not followed by general words.
Example:
If a Statute refers to Lions and Tigers it only refers to Lions and Tigers and will not include
Leopards’ or any other wild animals.
Case Law:
1.R. V. Secretary of state for the Home department
In this case it was held to exclude the father of an illegitimate child from rights under immigration
law at the time, because the definition section specifically mentioned the mother alone.
2.R. V. Inhabitants of sedgley
The court held that the poor rate levied on occupiers of ‘land, houses and coal mines’ under the
poor relief act 1601 could not be levied on owners of other types of mines. This case is perfectly
clesr as otherwise there was no explanation for the insertion of the word ‘coal’.
3.Tempest vs. Kilner
The court had to rule whether the statute of frauds 1677 applied to the sale of stocks and shares.
The act required contracts for the sale of ‘goods, wares and merchandise’ to be evidence in writing
if they were above a specified value.
The Court decided that stocks and shares were not covered by the act as the specific words ‘goods,
wares and merchandise’ were not followed by general words.
This will not be strictly applied in the event that the act mentions that the words listed are
illustrative by the use of the word.

OTHER ENACTING WORDS

An examination of the whole of a statute, or at least those Parts which deal with the subject matter
of the provision to be interpreted, should give some indication of the overall purpose of the
legislation. It may show that a particular interpretation of that provision will lead to absurdity when
taken with another section.
DICTIONARIES AND OTHER LITERARY SOURCES
Dictionaries are commonly consulted as a guide to the meaning of statutory words. Textbooks may
also be consulted.

PRACTICE

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The practice followed in the past may be a guide to interpretation. For example, the practice of
eminent conveyancers where the technical meaning of a word or phrase used in conveyancing is
in issue.

OTHER STATUTES IN PARI MATERIA

Related statutes dealing with the same subject matter as the provision in question may be
considered both as part of the context and to resolve ambiguities. A statute may indeed provide
expressly that it should be read as one with an earlier statute or series of statutes.

OFFICIAL REPORTS
Legislation may be preceded by a report of a Royal Commission, the Law Commissions or some
other official advisory committee. This kind of material may be considered as evidence of the pre-
existing state of the law and the "mischief" with which the legislation was intended to deal.
However, it has been held that the recommendations contained therein may not be regarded as
evidence of Parliamentary intention as Parliament may not have accepted the recommendations
and acted upon them (The Black-Clawson Case [1975] AC 591).

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

There is a presumption that Parliament does not legislate in such a way that the UK would be in
breach of its international obligations.

PARLIAMENTARY MATERIALS
It was held by the House of Lords in Davis v Johnson (1979) that a court may not refer to
Parliamentary materials for any purpose whatsoever connected with the interpretation of statutes.
The prohibition covered such materials as reports of debates in the House and in committee, and
the explanatory memoranda attached to Bills. Then in Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart [1993]
AC 593, the House of Lords significantly relaxed the general prohibition.
See Martin, The English Legal System, chapter 3, for the criteria for the rule and criticism.

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PRESUMPTIONS
There are various presumptions that may be applied:
i. Presumption against changes in the common law
ii. Presumption against ousting the jurisdiction of the courts
iii. Presumption against interference with vested rights
iv. Strict construction of penal laws in favour of the citizen
v. Presumption against retrospective operation
vi. Presumption that statutes do no affect the Crown
vii. Others
See Martin, The English Legal System, chapter 3, for examples of the most important presumption

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THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN UGANDA.

The legal profession is ‘a vocation that is based on expertise in the law and in it’s application.’
Those who pursue these ‘vocations’ collectively form a body of individuals who are qualified to
practice law in particular jurisdictions. Justice Remmy Kasule in Raymond Otucu v. Otwii Tom and
others(HCT-02-029-2007) stated at page 6 that, “The legal profession, more than any other
profession, enjoins its members to exhibit the best proficiency of expertise when handling and
pursuing instructions of their clients or the state at large.” Justice Stephan Musota in Paul
Mugoya v. Attorney General (Misc. Application No. 364 of 2015) stated at page 7 that, “….the
Advocates Act Cap. 267 is one of the laws that regulates the legal profession…..and matters
relating to the legal profession in Uganda.”

The legal profession is divided into two broad areas:

1. The Bench and,
2. The Bar.

THE BENCH
This is composed of judicial officers who are regulated by the Uganda Judicial Code of Conduct,
and the Judicial Service Act Cap.14.
Article 126(1) of the constitution creates the stem of judicial power in Uganda by providing that,
‘judicial power is derived from the people and to be exercised by the courts established under the
constitution……’ Under Article 257(b) of the constitution, a “court” is one established by or under
the courts of judicature.

A “judicial officer” was defined in the case of Masalu Musene v. Attorney General, to mean, “all
the persons and offices mentioned in Article 151, unless the contex otherwise requires.” Under
Article 151 of the constitution, ‘a judicial officer’ means, (a) judge or any person who presides
over court, (b) the chief registrar of court and, (3) such other person holding any office connected
to court.
However, there are also other parties which may also preside over court or tribunal. Thus in the
case Masalu Musene v. Attorney General, Justice Twinomujuni stated that, “Besides judges,
Magistrates and Registrars, there are other persons who preside over court or tribunal howsoever

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called. These include, members of the Land Tribunal, members of the Industrial Court, members
of the Tax Appeals Tribunal, members of Local Council Courts……”
Under Article 129 of the constitution, the different courts of Uganda are listed starting from the
Magistrates Court grade 1 to the Supreme court of Uganda. It is therefore clear that these courts
make up the judiciary and every person who works for these courts is taken to be an employee of
the judiciary. Thus in Masalu Musene v. Attorney General, Justice Twinomujuni clearly stated that,
“Article 151 only covers employees of the judiciary who are engaged in adjudicating disputes. It
cannot cover any other person employed outside the judiciary….., in that context therefore the
expression ‘judicial officer’ can only mean the following, (a) Justices of the Supreme court, (b)
Justices of the court of Appeal, (c) Judges of the Court, (d) Magistrates, (e) Registrars……..I would
so hold.”

REGULATION OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT;

Judicial officers are regulated by the Uganda Judicial Code of Conduct which provides for the
principles that every judicial officer must abide by in discharge of their duties. Under the preamble
of this code, it is stated that, “NOW WE THE JUDICIAL OFFICERS OF UGANDA DO HEREBY
ADOPT THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES AND RULES DESIGNED TO PROVIDE GUIDANCE
FOR REGULATING JUDICIAL CONDUCT AND TO BE KNOWN AS ‘THE UGANDA CODE
OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT.”
Therefore it should be noted that every judicial officer has a duty to exercise high levels of
professional ethics while carrying out his/her judicial duties. Thus in an Indian case of Saad Salami
v. Chief Justice, High Court Sindh, the court defined
“Judicial Ethics” as, ‘Unimpeachable character, high integrity and transparency in actions
coupled with nobility and dignity.’
The principles governing judicial conduct as per the Judicial Code of Conduct are listed below;

Independence
This principle requires that, a judicial officer should uphold and exemplify the independence of
the judiciary in it’s individual and institutional aspects. A judicial officer shall reject any attempt,
arising from outside the proper judicial process to influence the decision in any matter before the
judicial officer for a judicial decision. Thus in the case of Julia Ssebutinde v. Attorney General,

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Hon.Justice Lillian Tibatemwa stated that, ‘the complete liberty of the judicial officer is to
independently and impartially decide cases that come before the court….’

Impartiality
This principle provides that, the essence of the judicial function and it’s applicability is not only
to make a decision but also the process by which the decision is made. A judicial officer is required
to perform his or her judicial duty without favour, bias or prejudice. In line with this, Lord Hewart
CJ in the case of R v Sussex Justices ex parte McCarthy said that, ‘Justice should not only be done
but it should also be seen to be done.’ Therefore, Justice Lillian Tibatemwa in Julia Ssebutinde’s
case (supra) was of the view that, “the complete liberty of the judicial officer is to impartially and
independently decide cases that come before the court…”

Integrity
This is central to the proper discharge of the judicial office. The behaviour and conduct of a judicial
officer must re-affirm to the people’s faith in the integrity of the judiciary. A judicial officer shall
respect and uphold the laws of the country.
He/she must exhibit and promote high standards of judicial and personal integrity. Thus in Justice
Okum Wengi v. Attorney General, it was stated that, “integrity of judicial officers is central since
it re-affirms the people’s faith with the judicial officers.” Also in the case of His worship Aggrey
Bwire v. Attorney General, the appellant, a Magistrate Grade 1, was charged before the Judicial
Service Commission for being untrustworthy and lacking integrity, abuse of judicial authority,
conducting himself in a manner prejudicial to the good image, honour and dignity of the judiciary.
He shielded himself under judicial immunity and independence but the court dismissed this. It was
held that by his own conduct, he had disqualified himself from the protection afforded by the
principles of judicial independence and immunity.

Propriety
This principle requires that, propriety and the appearance of propriety are essential to the
performance of all the activities of a judicial officer. A judicial officer shall avoid impropriety and
the appearance of impropriety in all judicial and personal activities. He or she must conduct himself
or herself in a manner consistent with the dignity of the judicial officer. For example in the case

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of Justice Okum Wengi v. Attorney General, were the petitioner, a judicial officer was suspended
regarding the allegations of judicial impropriety, corruption, and fraudulent perversion of justice.
The court dismissed the petitioner’s application on grounds that his conduct as a judicial officer
was improper.

Equality
This principle requires that, all persons are entitled to equal protection of the law. A judicial officer
shall accord equal treatment to all persons who appear in court, without distinction on unjust
discrimination based on the grounds of sex, colour race, religion, age e.t.c. The Constitution under
Article 21 provides for equality and freedom from discrimination.

Competence and diligence

This principle requires that, competence and diligence are pre-requisites to the performance of the
judicial officer. A judicial officer shall give judicial duty precedence over all other activities.
However, despite the principles set to regulate judicial conduct under the Judicial Code of
Conduct, there have been instances and cases were justices, judges and magistrates have
expressed judicial misconduct while carrying out their judicial duties as seen below;
In Justice Okum Wengi v Attorney General, the accused who was a judicial officer was suspended
from office by the Judicial Service Commission on allegations of demanding bribe from Asians.
The court dismissed his application and he was ordered to secure a new and fresh appointment
from the president.
In Attorney General v. Glady Nakibuule Kisekka, were the respondent was charged with offenses
of abusing judicial authority contrary to the Judicial Service Act and the Judicial Code of Conduct.
She argued that she enjoyed judicial immunity against the allegations. The court held that, ‘…..a
judicial officer once notified of a complaint lodged against him/her before the Judicial Service
Commission for abuse of judicial authority, cannot answer that all with the shield of judicial
immunity.”
In Justice Kalinda v. Attorney General, the applicant was suspended from his work as a judicial
officer on grounds that he had fake academic documents which he had been using as his education
background. The court held that this was an illegality and therefore the applicant had to lose his
position as a judicial officer as required by the law.

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Forms of judicial misconduct;

1. Using the judge’s office to obtain special treatment from friends or relatives; accepting bribes,
gifts, or other personal favors.
2. Having improper discussions with parties or counsel for one side in a case.
3. Violating the rules of procedure or rules of evidence.
4. Acting outside the jurisdiction of the court.
5. Delay delivery of rulings.
6. Hiding files in chambers.
7. Corruption.
8. Coming late to court.
9. Treating litigants or lawyers in a demonstrably hostile manner.

THE BAR
The bar is made up of “Barristers” and “Solicitors”. The bar is mainly composed of “Lawyers”
or “Litigants” and not judicial officers simply because judicial officers belong to the Bench.
The bar is headed by the Attorney General by virtue of Article 119(3) of the Constitution of
Uganda. Second to the Attorney General is the Solicitor General, who is then followed by the
Director of Public Prosecutions(DPP). The DPP is then followed by Advocates with Special
Standing(Senior Counsel, Commissioner of oaths) and lastly the Advocates.
The bar
Attorney General(Head of the bar)
Solicitor General
Director of Public Prosecutions
Advocates with Special Standing
Advocates

“Advocate” is defined under Section 1 of the Advocates Act to mean, any person whose name is
duly entered upon the roll. Under Section 7 of the Advocates Act, the roll of advocates is to be done
by the registrar. Section 16 of the Advocates Act provides for an Advocate to be an “officer of
court.”

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PROCEDURE FOR BECOMING AN ADVOCATE.

The procedure for becoming an advocate is provided for under the Advocates Act Cap.267 and the
Advocates (Enrollment and Certification) Regulations.
Procedure;
1) The person must have acquired knowledge about law/legal studies from a recognized University
or Institute of law. Section 8(5)(a) of the Advocates Act provides that the person must be a holder
of a degree of law granted by a university in Uganda or a degree in law from other institutions
outside Uganda but recognized by the Law Council.
2) Application for the Certificate of Eligibility to the Law Council. Regulation 4 of the Advocates
(Enrollment and Certification) Regulations provides for the application of the certificate of
eligibility to be done in conformity with the conditions set out in Section 8(5) of the Advocates
Act. Under Regulation 4(3), this application must be supported by an affidavit verifying the facts
set forth.
Regulation 5(c)-(d) requires the application to be accompanied by two letters of recommendation
from former lecturers or people who have acted as supervisors of the application and these people
should be advocates with a 3 year standing. However, by virtue of Regulation 4(1)(e), these
advocates must not have any case pending against them as to professional misconduct.

3) Applicant and the Commissioner of oaths to sign. Regulation 5 of the Advocates (Enrollment
and Certification) Regulations, requires the application for the Certificate of Eligibility to be
signed by the applicant and the commissioner of oaths.
4) Certificate of Eligibility is run in the Gazette. Regulation 6 of the Advocates (Enrollment and
Certification) Regulations provides that, the certificate of eligibility will be run in the Uganda
gazette that the applicant and others are aspiring to be advocates of the High Court and other
Courts. The Law Council then issues a Certificate of Eligibility to the applicant.
Application for Enrollment;
5) After receiving the Certificate of Eligibility, the applicant may petition the Chief Justice so as
his or her name can be enrolled. Regulation 8(1) of the Advocates (Enrollment and Certification)
Regulations, requires the applicant to petition the Chief Justice praying that the name be entered
on the roll of advocates. Regulation 8(2)(a)-(c) provides that, the petition should be accompanied
by the Certificate of Eligibility for enrollment issued by the Law Council and a certified copy of

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the statement, or documents and certificates of legal education. The applicant should also be
recommended by two advocates who have practiced for atleast three years. This application must
be submitted through an approved law firm.
6) Advertisement of the application. Regulation 9 of the Advocates (Enrollment and Certification)
Regulations, provides for the advertisement of the application for enrollment by the Gazette.
7) Notification of the applicant. Regulation 10(2) of the Advocates (Enrollment and Certification)
Regulations provides that, the registrar shall notify an applicant for enrollment of the decision of
the Chief Justice in respect of the application.
8) Confirmation by the Chief Justice. Once, the name of the applicant is confirmed by the Chief
Justice, his or her name is then entered on the roll to practice as an advocate. Regulation 11 of the
Advocates (Enrollment and Certification) Regulations provides for the certificate of enrollment to
be issued by the Chief Justice. The advocate then appears physically to the registrar so as to sign
the Certificate of Enrollment at the High Court.
Application to Practice Law;
9) Any person who may wish to practice law may apply for a “Practicing Certificate.” The
Practicing Certificate is categorized into two; (a) Practicing Certificate for new advocates and, (b)
Practicing Certificate for Old Advocates.
For new Advocates; Regulation 13 of the Advocates (Enrollment and Certification) Regulations
provides for the right of audience of the new advocates for the first 9 months only in the
Magistrate’s Courts. This means that a new advocate has to first practice law in the Magistrate’s
Courts for 9 months before appearing in the higher courts.
After the 9 months of practice in the Magistrate’s Courts, an advocate is now considered to be a
old advocate and he or she is deemed to renew his/her practicing certificate. However before
carrying out the renewal, Regulation 14 of the Advocates (Enrollment and Certification)
Regulations requires the advocates to show that he/she has been an advocate of good standing and,
must have; (1) Continuing Legal Education, (2) a law firm with NSSF compliance, (3) Paid the
annual subscription fees to the Uganda Law Society, (4) Paid 40 dollars to the East African Law
Society and, 50,000 Uganda shillings to the High Court.

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Can an Advocate ask for removal of his/her name form the Roll of Advocates? Section 10 of the
Advocates Act provides that, an advocate of good standing can ask for their name to be removed
from the roll of advocates.
Can the Registrar refuse to issue or renew an advocates Practicing Certificate?
Section 12 of the Advocates Act provides that, the Registrar shall refuse to issue or renew a
Practicing Certificate of any advocate on the following grounds; Being of unsound mind, failure
to pay costs, failure to pay subscription, lack of approved chambers, being convicted of criminal
offenses, lack of continuing legal education points e.t.c.

ADVOCATES PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

The Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations provide for the conduct advocates should
comply to while carrying out their duties as advocates.
However, Section 17 of the Advocates Act empowers courts to deal with Advocates who violate
the rules of ethics.
Section 18 of the Advocates Act provides for the establishment of the Disciplinary Committee of
the Law Council, to deal with complaints originating from the misconduct of advocates.
Therefore, all advocates are deemed to comply to the code of conduct set under the Advocates
(Professional Conduct) Regulations. Among the regulations under the Advocates (Professional
Conduct) Regulations include;
Regulation against conflict of interest or Personal involvement is the client’s case.
Regulation 9 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations restricts any advocate from
appearing before any court or Tribunal in any matter in which he or she has reason to believe that
he or she will be required as a witness. In the case of Lwandasa v. Kyas Global Trading
Company(2014), the transaction in dispute had been handled by M/S Nziga and Co. Advocates,
now the defendant’s counsel, the sale agreement in dispute, the performance and execution was
also overseen by the same law firm and the legal enforcement too. It was held that this was contrary
to Regulation 9 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations since it resulted into conflict
of interest.

Regulation against acting for a client without instructions.

Regulation 2(1) of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations provides

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that, “No advocate shall act for any person unless he or she has received instructions from that
person.”
Regulation against prejudicing former clients.
Regulation 4 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations provides that, an advocate shall
not accept instructions from any person in respect of a contentious or non contentious matter if the
matter involves a former client and the advocate is as a result of acting for the former client aware
of any facts which may be prejudicial to the other client. In Fred Nyeenya Mayambala v. Bisaso
Nathan (2005), the defendant’s counsel had earlier represented the plaintiff under which the suit
property was sought to be recovered by the plaintiff against the defendant. The court stated that,
“…for a conflict of interest to arise in respect of a former client, there must be a nexus between
the two disputes which prejudices the position of the former client.”
Regulation against using fiduciary relationship between the advocate and his/her clients for the
advocate’s own advantage.
This is provided for under Regulation 10 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations.
Thus in the case of Uganda v. Ojangole (2014), were the lawyers of the employer to the accused
had represented the accused. The lawyers had knowledge about the accused employer’s financial
status and when a point of contention in court turned out to be against the employer, the advocate
turned around and seek to act on behalf of the accused in a matter arising from the same transaction.
The court held that it was forbidden for the advocate to take advantage of the fiduciary relationship
with his client for gain.

Regulation against ‘Res sub judice’.

Regulation 20 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations restricts an advocate from
making announcements to newspapers or any other news media, including radio and television,
concerning any pending, anticipated or current litigation in which he or she is not involved.

Regulation against coaching witnesses.

Regulation 18 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations restricts an advocate from
coaching a person whom he/she is expecting to be a witness in a matter the advocate is appearing
before in any court.

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Regulation against unlawful arrangement with public officers.

Regulation 13 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations restricts an advocate from
entering into any arrangement with any person employed in the public service whereby that person
is to secure either the acquittal of the advocate’s client, the bringing of a lesser criminal charge
against the advocate’s client.

Regulation against presenting to court false affidavits.

Regulation 15 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations restricts any advocate from
including in any affidavit any matter he or she knows that it is false.
In Re Ssesanga, the petitioner was struck off the roll of advocates for swearing a false affidavit.
The court held that his name could not be restored due to professional misconduct carried out by
him as an officer of court.
Regulation against advertising.
Regulation 25 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations restricts an advocate from
putting his or her name in the capacity of an advocate to be used in any commercial advertisement.
However, this rule has got serious international challenges, for example in Kenya in the case of
Okenyo Omwansa v. Attorney General, the Kenyan High Court accepted the advertising by
advocates.
Regulation against champerty or contingent fees.
Regulation 26 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations restricts an advocate against
entering in any arrangement for the sharing of a proportion of the proceeds of a judgement. In the
case of Shell (U) Ltd v. Rock Petroleum, Justice Mulyangoja held that, champerty agreements,
which are known among lay persons as buying into another’s law suit or sharing in the spoils of
litigation are illegal at common law.

Regulation against charging excessive fees.

Regulation 28(1) of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations provides that, no advocate
shall charge a fee which is below the specified fee under the Advocates (Remuneration and
Taxation of Cost) Rules.

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DUTY/ DUTIES OF AN ADVOCATES

DUTIES OF ADVOCATES TO THEIR ‘CLIENTS’
Section 1 of the Advocates Act defines a “client” as, ‘any person who as a principal, or on behalf
of another, or personal representative, or in any capacity has power to retain or employ, an
advocate costs.’

Representing clients in court;

It is a duty of a lawyer to represent his or her client in both civil and criminal proceedings. Article
28(d) of the constitution requires a person charged with a criminal offence to appear before the
court in person or by a lawyer. Thus in Lobo v. Saleh Salim and others, it was stated that, “….an
advocate who appears for a client in a contested case is retained to advance or defend his client’s
case is retained to advance or defend his client’s case as an officer of the court.

Providing legal advice to clients;

Advocates have a duty to provide legal advice to clients. This advice has to be in position to help
the client regarding the legal issue at hand. Thus in Kirima Estates(U) v. K.G Korde, were the
advocate gave his client wrong advice about his financial standing thus led to losses after lending
money. The court held that, the defendant had broken his duty to offer advice to the plaintiff as to
the financial standing.

Duty to communicate to clients;

Regulation 2(2) of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations provides that, an advocate
shall not unreasonably delay the carrying out of instructions received from his/her clients and shall
conduct business on behalf of clients with due diligence, including answering of correspondence
dealing with the affairs of his or her clients.

Documentation management;
Clients entrust advocates with important papers and documents and thus rely on their advocates to
manage the client’s legal files in a secure and orderly manner.

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Avoiding representing clients in conflicts of interest;

Regulation 9 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations restricts advocates from
appearing before any court or tribunal which the advocate has reason to believe that he/she will be
required as a witness.

DUTIES OF ADVOCATES TO THE COURT.

Section 16 of the Advocates Act requires every advocate to act as an ‘officer of the High Court’
and shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the High Court. Among the duties of the advocates to the
court include;
Duty no to submit false evidence;
Section 57 of the Advocates Act provides that Advocates shall not include any affidavit which they
have reason to believe to be false.
Duty to advise the court on matters within his or her special knowledge;
Advocates are under a duty not to allow the court to be misled. Regulation 19 of the Advocates
(Professional Conduct) Regulations requires the advocate to inform the court of any irregularity
without delay. Thus in Vicent Iga v. Agip, it was stated that, “the duty of counsel is to elicit all
relevant information to the court to help court arrive at the right decision.”
Duty not to interfere with the due process of court;
This includes the duty not hinder, intimidate or induce a witness whom the advocate knows has
been called to witness. Regulation 18 of the Advocates (Professional Conduct) Regulations
prohibits advocates from coaching witnesses.

DUTIES OF ADVOCATES TO OPPOSING COUNSEL

a) Communication with both counsel about the details of the case at hand.
b) Discovery process. This is the stage were both lawyers exchange documents and information
about a case.
c) In court, both counsel have a duty not to be blinded by the desire to achieve success for their
client by providing misleading witnesses and false documents.

ADVOCATE’S DUTY TO THE STATE

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a. To take on cases of citizens against the state or capital offenses. This is called “State Brief”.
Article 120 of Constitution provides for the office of the DPP to institute criminal proceedings
against any person or authority in matters concerning offenses against the state.

b. Advocates have a duty to pay taxes.

ADVOCATES DUTY TO THE PUBLIC.
i. To help in justice for all.
ii. To handle Pro-bono services. E.g The Uganda Law Society holds a annual Pro-Bono service
day every year to offer free legal services to people.
iii. To serve justice and not being after money.
iv. To promote Public Interest Litigation.
ADVOCATES DUTY TO THE LEGAL PROFESSION.
a. To protect the constitution of Uganda as required by Article 3 of Constitution.
b. To pay annual fees to the Uganda Law Society, East African law Society and the High Court.
c. To comply to the Advocates Code of Conduct.

THE ROLE OF A LAWYER IN THE TRASFORMATION OF THE SOCIETY

Lawyers help in eradicating the following challenges in the society;
(1) Poverty, (2)Corruption, (3)Insecurity, (4)Ignorance and, (5)Inefficiency. “Lawyers can
address all the above challenges by playing an important role in the prosecution and defending
those who may not be guilty of offenses.” LAWYERS AS AGENTS OF POSITIVE CHANGE
Lawyers are instrumental when it comes to helping the poor people who cannot afford hiring
lawyers. This is manifested under different laws in Uganda as seen below;
1. The Poor Person’s Defence Act empowers the advocates to defend poor people in court
proceedings.

2. The Advocates Act also requires advocates to provide pro-bono services to the poor people who
may not afford to hire lawyers.
3. The Magistrate’s Court Act provides for a provision which requires advocates to render legal
services to the poor people.

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4. The placement of Law schools has also helped in the transformation of the society. For example,
the Makerere University School of Law organizes a pro-bono day to give free legal services to the
public.
5. Lawyers also help in the protection of the rights of women in the society. Thus in the case of
Uganda Association of Women Lawyers v. Attorney General, The constitutional court held that the
observance of women’s rights is essential in promoting democracy.

LEGAL EDUCATION
Legal Education is the education of individuals in the principles, practices, and theory of law.
Legal education can be undertaken by those who intend to become legal professionals or those
who simply intend to use their law degree to some end, either related to law or business.
HISTORY OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN UGANDA.
The history of legal education in Uganda can be traced from the early 1950’s. In July 1952, the
Chief Secretary of the Protectorate Government issued a gene, “AFRICAN PUPIL’S-CROWN
LAW CHAMBERS”; which was intended to allow African natives to also get an opportunity to
enter the colonial legal services.
The first ever School of law in Uganda was, ‘The Makerere University School of Law’ which was
started in 1968. However, other schools of law were opened up in different parts of Uganda, and
it estimated that there are more than 12 schools of law in Uganda today.

The Law Development Center (LDC) was also established in 1970 by the Law Development
Center Act as a government owned institution of higher learning responsible for “research, law
reform, publications, law reporting and community legal service provider.”

STAGES OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN UGANDA.

In the case of Pius Niwagaba v. Law Development Center, the court cited the World bank funded
report on Legal Education (1995) by Justice Benjamin Odoki, and the court was of the view that
this report recognized that, the training of a lawyer consists of 3 stages; “The Academic stage, the
Professional Stage which consists of institutional training, and lastly Continuing legal education.”

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The report further stated that; “The academic stage should be taken at a university or it’s
equivalent. The professional stage should consist partly of organized vocational in an institutional
setting partly of practice experience in a professional setting under supervision.”

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK GOVERNING LEGAL EDUCATION IN UGANDA.

The Uganda Constitution under Article 30 provides that, “all persons have a right to education.”
The Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act; Section 5(d) of the Universities and Other
Tertiary Institutions Act empowers the National Council for Higher Education to recieve, consider
and process applications for the; (a)Establishment and accreditation of private tertiary institutions,
and (b) Accredit academic and professional programs of these institutions in consultation with
professional associations. Thus in the case of Asiimwe Alex Byaruhanga and others v. Law
Development Center and Anor (Misc. Cause No. 267 of 2017), were one of the issues was,
‘Whether it is the UAOTI Act or the Advocates Act which regulates under graduate law programs
in Universities in Uganda.’ The court held that it is the UAOTI Act which regulates under graduate
law programs in Uganda and not the Advocates Act.

The UAOTI Act also provides for the accreditation of law universities in Uganda through the
National Council of Higher Education. “Accreditation” is defined under Section 2 of the
Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act to mean, “Public acceptance and confirmation
evidenced by the grant of a charter that a university meets requirements and standards of academic
excellence set by National Council.”

The process for accrediting Universities is provided for under the Universities and
Other Tertiary Institutions(Institution Standards) Regulations(2005).

Thus in the case of Asiimwe Alex Byaruhanga and others v. LDC and Anor, Lady
Justice Wolayo stated at page 14 that, “The Universities and Other Tertiary
Institutions(Institutional Standards) Regulations, gives the procedure for accrediting a
university…… They prescribe the standards and requirements that must be complied with by
institutions under the Act. These include library buildings and services, curriculum and programs,
physical facilities, among others. It is after an institution meets these standards that it is issued

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with a license or Charter to operate. The charter becomes evidence that the institution meets
standards set by NCHE.”
Any university which is not accredited by the National Council of Higher Education(NCHE), and
approved by the Committee on Legal Education can not teach law in Uganda. Thus in Asiimwe
Alex Byaruhanga and others v. LDC and anor, one of the issues was, ‘Whether Gulu and
Cavendish Universities were authorized to teach law.’ The court held that, the law programs
offered by Gulu
University and Cavendish University were accredited by the NCHE and approved by the
Committee on legal education and therefore these universities are authorized to teach law in
Uganda.

Legal Education is also recognized by the Advocates Act.

Section 3(a) of Advocates Act provides that, “the law council shall exercise general supervision
and control over professional legal education.” Under Section 39(b) of the Advocates Act, the Law
Council is given powers to approve courses of study and to provide for the conduct of qualifying
examinations for any of the purposes of the Act.

The Advocates Act is silent on the role of the Law Council in under graduate law programs. Pamela
Kalyegira in her book ‘Liberalization of Legal Education in Uganda’ published by Law Africa
states at page 18 that;
“.….although the Advocates Act did not specifically spell out the role of Law Council in all legal
education in Uganda, the consensus was that it had a final say for both under graduate and
professional legal education.”
Law Development Center Act;
Section 3(1)(a) of the Law Development Center Act provides that, “the center shall have functions
of organizing and conducting courses of acquisition of legal knowledge, professional skills and
experience by person intending to practice as
attorneys….”
THE ROLE PLAYED BY LEGAL EDUCATION IN UGANDA;
Legal education in Uganda has greatly resulted into positive returns as seen below;

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a) Legal education has enabled law students and those in the legal profession to know how legal
rules and principles have developed, the reason under lying them and the nexus between legal and
social history.
b) Legal education has enabled law students and legal personalities to extract the principles
underlying the existing legal rules and to point the right road for future development.
c) Legal education provides students with the operative legal rules, both substantive and
procedural.
d) Legal education provides students with adequate experience to apply the laws and rules. For
example, the Law development center offers a diploma in legal practice to teach students how legal
principles are practically applied.
e) Legal education equips students with sufficient knowledge of the historical and sociological
background of the country’s legal system.
f) Legal education also provides the students with some knowledge of the other legal systems of
the world so that the students do not find themselves at a complete loss when it comes to adopting
a comparative approach.
g) Legal education can also be credited for boosting the development of the legal sector through
broad legal research which has aided the development of new legal rules which fit within the
changing society.
h) Legal education is also a source of employment for those who choose to teach law, legal
researchers e.t.c

CHALLENGES FACING LEGAL EDUCATION IN UGANDA.

a. Non accreditation of universities to teach law which deliberately go on to teach law illegally.
b. The expenses of maintaining universities as well as the LDC, has led to admissions beyond the
capacity of these institutions, thereby endangering quality of the product.
c. Fraud and forgery within the legal education system. Many students and those in the legal
profession attempt to forge academic documents and this is a great danger to the development of
legal education. See Justice Kalinda v. AG
d. The high level of competition between law schools in Uganda. Today many universities which
teach law compete about who teaches the program best than the other.

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e. The inability to access the necessary legal materials to help legal scholars and law students to
carryout legal education smoothly. For example, some law schools lack the relevant law books
and law reports, the Uganda online law library is also very expensive in terms of subscription e.t.c
f. There has also been a concern on the mushrooming of private universities which offer law
degrees. There has been talk of low standards of teaching and preparation of law graduates.
g. The instabilities within some law universities in Uganda is also a problem to the development
of legal education. Different universities experience students or lecturers strikes which sometimes
lead to a stand-off in the process of delivering services for legal education.
h. The high fees charged by some law institutions also tend to be a disadvantage to the development
of legal education simply because some students may not be able to sustain such expenses and as
a result, some drop out.
i. The existence of outdated curriculum and syllabus. The current curriculum in law schools has
been excoriated for not including subjects which are essential in the current context for lawyers.
Law schools are facing a perplexing variety of competing demands for the reformation of the
current curriculum.
j. The nature of examination assessment. The real benefit from any curriculum can be produced
only if the knowledge is tested in an objective scenario. The examination system in law schools
must be stringent and eliminate malpractices. The nature of questions must be analytical in such a
way that it makes the students produce the application of law rather than the reproduction of law
and cases that are already in textbooks.
k. Lack of a practical approach towards law in some law schools in Uganda. The syllabus of most
of the colleges are based on theory and hence the students find it dis-interesting and boring. One
cannot expect the students to excel in later stages when they have been taught this way that
meagerly stimulate their interest.
l. Inability to provide students with international programs and experience. Some Ugandan law
schools and universities fail to send the students to universities abroad which organize summer
programs which would enhance the student’s skills and help them in the future. Law schools must
make necessary amenities to send the students to such abroad programs which are offered by many
foreign countries.

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POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS: HOW CAN THE CHALLENGES FACING THE

DEVELOPMENT OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN UGANDA BE ADRESSED?
1. Regular notification of accredited legal institutions. Since legal education is a developing area,
regular notification through the media will be a worthy start. In Pius Nuwagaba v. LDC, Justice
Okum Wengi stated that, “……what is important is that the Law Council must be consulted during
the process of accrediting a university to teach law.” Also in Asiimwe Alex and others v. LDC,
it was stated that, “…the National Council of Higher Education and the Committee on Legal
Education are obliged by law to work together before accreditation of a university to teach law.”
2. Partnership with fellow universities within and outside of Africa. By this, students may attend
exchange programs, and obtain exposure of new legal knowledge.
3. Upgrading the terms of technology and library stocks. This is to enable to avail students with
adequate learning resources such as well stocked libraries, electronic information retrieval
databases, information and communications technology and computer.
4. Legal education should encourage the students of law to enrich their knowledge in economics,
political science, sociology and if possible psychology. Knowledge of all allied social sciences in
necessary to understand the whole complex of social structures, values, institutions and processes.
5. Teaching must focus on building up the skills of analysis, language, drafting and argument in
law students.
6. Encouragement of moot court competitions to enable students learn the mode of practice of law
in courts of law.
7. Assessment of law lecturers in different universities by the Law Council together with the
NCHE.

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How does one become a Commissioner of Oaths?

The Law applicable as regards how one becomes a commissioner of Oaths is the Commissioner
of Oaths Advocates Act under the Commissioner of Oaths Rules under s.7 which provides for
the following:
1. A practising advocate of the High Court who has practised as such for not less than two years
in Uganda immediately prior to the date of the application may apply to the Chief Justice to be
appointed a commissioner for oaths.
2. All applications shall be made in writing and shall state the period during which the applicant
has practised as an advocate in Uganda and the date on which he or she signed the roll of advocates,
and shall be accompanied by a certificate signed by two other practising advocates to the effect
that the applicant is a fit and proper person to be appointed.
3. Applications shall be lodged with the chief registrar of the High Court who will notify the
applicant of the decision of the Chief Justice in the application.
4. On the advocate paying the fee of sixty shillings and signing the roll of commissioners, a
commission shall be issued to him or her in the form set out in the First Schedule to these Rules.

Under s.1 3)1After the commission shall have been duly signed and stamped as provided in
subsections (1) and (2), the appointment of the person named in it as a commissioner for oaths
shall be immediately In law various words mean different things depending on the context, in most
cases where the words of the statutes are not clear, the court would find the means either within
the law itself or somewhere else outside the law.

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