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Court of AppealDismissedCivil Application No. Nai. 258 of 1999 (UR.101/99)

Trust Bank Limited & Another v Investec Bank & 3 Others

Court of Appeal
8 October 1999
AAA. M. AkiwumiALA. A. LakhaSBS. E. O. Bosire
213 words in judgment
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The bottom line

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Kenya's Court of Appeal ruled that a court ruling signed on each page is validly signed, so a technical objection cannot derail a stay application.

What this practically means

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Executive summary

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This is a brief interlocutory ruling of the Court of Appeal at Nairobi (Akiwumi, Lakha and Bosire, JJ.A.) delivered on 8 October 1999 in Civil Application No. Nai. 258 of 1999 (UR.101/99). The applicants, Trust Bank Limited and Michael Muhindi, had applied for stay of execution of a decision of the High Court of Kenya at Milimani Commercial Court (Commissioner Hewett) dated 10 September 1999 in H.C.C.C. No. 2411 of 1998. The respondents, Investec Bank, Vinod Patel, Ajay Shah and Nitin Chandaria, responded with an application to strike out the stay application on the ground that the ruling of the Commissioner of Assize filed by the applicants was not signed. The Court of Appeal dismissed the strike-out application. Having examined the original ruling, the court found that it was clearly signed by the learned Commissioner of Assize at the bottom of each page, a course he had adopted because he had made handwritten corrections on the original typed ruling. The court awarded the costs of the strike-out application to the applicants in any event. The ruling is a single judgment of the whole court, with no separate opinions or dissents, and cites no authorities or statutory provisions. Its practical significance lies in confirming that a ruling signed page by page, where handwritten corrections have been made to the typed original, satisfies the signature requirement, and that a purely technical objection of this kind will not defeat an application for stay of execution.

Questions the Court framed

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The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.

  1. 1.Whether the applicants' application for stay of execution should be struck out because the ruling of the Commissioner of Assize filed in support is not signed

Key legal issues

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01

Whether a ruling bearing the Commissioner of Assize's signature at the bottom of each page is validly signed

Holding

The objection failed; the original ruling was clearly signed on each page because of handwritten corrections, so the strike-out application was dismissed with costs to the applicants

Reasoning

The respondents sought to strike out the stay application on the ground that the filed ruling was unsigned. The court examined the original ruling and found the Commissioner of Assize had signed at the bottom of each page, a practice adopted because he had made handwritten corrections on the original typed ruling. The signature requirement was therefore satisfied and the technical objection could not succeed.

p. 2

Legal principles established

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  • Where handwritten corrections have been made on a typed ruling, a Commissioner of Assize may sign at the bottom of each page, and such a ruling is properly signed for purposes of filing; an unsigned-copy objection will fail where the original is signed

Court orders

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  1. 1.The application to strike out the applicants' application for stay of execution is dismissed
  2. 2.The costs of the strike-out application are awarded to the applicants in any event

The bench

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One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.

AA
majority
AL
majority
SB
majority
On appeal from
High Court of Kenya at Milimani Commercial Court
H.C.C.C. No. 2411 of 1998
Jurisdiction invoked
Inherent appellate jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal over an application for stay of execution of a High Court decision (no specific constitutional or statutory provision is cited in the ruling)

Relief refused

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Strike-out of the stay of execution application

The court examined the original ruling and found it was signed by the Commissioner of Assize on each page

p. 2

Costs

The costs for the application will be for the applicants in any event.

Quotable passages

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Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.

The application to strike out the application by the applicants because the ruling of the Commissioner of Assize filed by the applicants is not signed is hereby dismissed as we have examined the original ruling which is clearly signed by the learned Commissioner of Assize at the bottom of each page of his ruling.
p. 2Dismissal of strike-out application
The costs for the application will be for the applicants in any event.
p. 2Costs order

Issues in the judgment

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minor

The ruling does not state the outcome of the underlying stay of execution application itself; it disposes only of the strike-out application, so the fate of the stay application is not recorded in this judgment

Key timeline

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Practical implications

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Frequently asked questions

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Later judgments citing this (7)

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Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.

Cite this brief

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Cite this brief

Caselaw, "Trust Bank Limited & Another v Investec Bank & 3 Others", Case Analysis (1999). Civil Application No. Nai. 258 of 1999 (UR.101/99). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/1999/53/eng@1999-10-08

Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.