Kinluck Holdings Limited v Mint Holdings Limited & another (Environment and Land Case E273 of 2025) [2025] KEELC 7381 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Environment and Land Court allowed a property owner to enforce a 2019 Court of Appeal judgment despite a pending Supreme Court application, ordering the land retransferred.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether this Court should grant orders allowing the Plaintiff to execute the Court of Appeal's judgement issued in Civil Appeal No. 69 of 2011 on 5th April 2019
Key legal issues
#Whether the High Court/ELC may execute a Court of Appeal judgment notwithstanding a pending application before the Supreme Court
The Court held it has power to execute decrees of the Court of Appeal as its own; since the Court of Appeal declined certification and never granted stay, and no petition is pending in the Supreme Court, there is no bar to execution.
The court relied on Section 4 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act and Sections 29 and 30 of the Civil Procedure Act, which empower it to execute Court of Appeal decrees as if they were its own judgments. It noted the Court of Appeal had declined certification for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court and had not granted a stay. Section 23A of the Supreme Court Act requires a filed petition before a stay application can be made, and none had been filed. The pendency of SCAPPL/E019/2024 therefore did not bar execution.
Legal principles established
#- A judgment of the Court of Appeal may be executed and enforced as if it were a judgment of the High Court.
- Where no petition of appeal has been instituted and no certification granted, an application for stay under Section 23A of the Supreme Court Act is not available and does not bar execution of the Court of Appeal's judgment.
Court orders
#- 1.An Order directing/authorizing the Deputy Registrar of this Honourable Court to execute the necessary transfer documents on behalf of the 1st Respondent to facilitate the retransfer of the property known as LR No.12494/10 to the Applicant
- 2.An Order directing the 1st Respondent to deliver to the Applicant the mother title in respect of LR No.12494/10 within thirty (30) days from the date hereof
- 3.An Order directed at the Chief Land Registrar Nairobi to facilitate the manual retransfer of the said LR No. 12494/10 from the 1st Respondent (MINT HOLDINGS LTD) to the Applicant (KINLUCK HOLDINGS LIMITED)
- 4.Costs in the cause
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Section 4 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act and Sections 29 and 30 of the Civil Procedure Act
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
Under Section 4 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act and Sections 29 and 30 of the Civil Procedure Act, this Court has power to execute decrees or orders of the Court of Appeal as if they were its own judgments.
I find that there is no Order from the Court of Appeal barring the Plaintifi from seeking for execution of the Judgment including resultant Decree emanating therefrom.
An Order be and is hereby issued directing/ authorizing the Deputy Registrar of this Honourable Court to execute the necessary transfer documents on behalf of the 1st Respondent to facilitate the retransfer of the property known as LR No.12494/10 to the Applicant.
Issues in the judgment
#The judgment refers to the applicant inconsistently as 'Plaintiff' in the application and 'Applicant' in the orders; the first respondent is called both '1st Defendant' and '1st Respondent'.
The case number of the suit before this Court is not stated in the extracted judgment.
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Kinluck Holdings Limited v Mint Holdings Limited & another (Environment and Land Case E273 of 2025) [2025] KEELC 7381 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Not stated in the judgment as extracted. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2025/7381/eng@2025-10-30
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.