LawyersOpinion
Order 81 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (CI 47):A Fetish in Civil Procedure Practice
The author argues that that substantive law cannot achieve its purpose when rules of procedure are not well applied since it will lead to injustice. His full reasoning is provided in this article
Introduction
Rules of court comes within the ambit of subsidiary legislation. Because it is a subsidiary legislation, our courts over the past two decades have ruled in legion of decided cases that any slip, mistake in any rules of procedure in civil litigation should be regarded as an irregularity but cannot nullify proceedings. In view of this legal practitioners have taken the rules of court for granted thereby rendering the rules of procedure subservient.
However in the case of Nortey (No.2) v African Institute of Journalism and Communication & Others, the Supreme Court in stating clearly the importance of subsidiary legislation as compared to statutes said: “…….the courts had a duty to ensure compliance with statutes including subsidiary legislation like LI 1444.
Read full article below
