Skip to document content Skip to main menu Skip to search

High Court of Malawi Civil Division - 2025 December

1 judgment
Advanced search

Court registries

All years
Filters
  • Filters
  • Judges
  • Topics
  • Alphabet
Sort by:
1 judgment
Citation
Judgment date
December 2025
Kadzamira v Sub Traditional Authority Kawere & 3 Others v Attorney General( Ministry of Lands) (Civil Cause 373 of 2020) [2025] MWHCCiv 15 (30 December 2025)
The claimant’s late-registered lease was void; earlier registered lease prevails and the trespass claim is dismissed.
Deeds Registration Act – mandatory registration period; late registration renders instrument void – priority of registration under s.8
Trespass – possessory tort; possession ordinarily sufficient but yields to superior registered title. Nemo dat quod non habet – unregistered surrender ineffective; re-grant by minister invalid if prior lease subsists. Res judicata – default judicial review judgment not a merits-based bar; identity of parties and merits required
Limitation – bars affirmative claims but does not preclude defendants relying on historical title defensively
Relief – interlocutory injunction vacated; court-directed survey to demarcate customary land boundaries
 30 December 2025