Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal - 2000

5 judgments
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Results. 5 judgments found.

5 judgments
October 2000
Section 80(2) requires a majority of votes cast, not a majority of all registered voters, to elect the President.
  • Constitutional interpretation — Election law — Meaning of "majority of the electorate" in s80(2) — Majority of votes cast, not of all registered voters — PPE Act s96(5) consistent with Constitution — Limited weight to legislative history
22 October 2000
August 2000
Appeal allowed: respondents failed to prove false imprisonment or slander; aggravated damages require specific pleading.
  • Tort — False imprisonment: liability where defendant or agent makes a charge procuring police arrest; distinction between laying information and making a charge; burden of proof on claimant
  • Defamation — necessity of proving the words as pleaded
  • Damages — special and aggravated damages must be specifically pleaded with particulars
24 August 2000
Insufficient Turnbull warning was outweighed by fingerprint and caution-statement corroboration, so conviction was upheld.
  • Criminal law — Visual identification — Dock identification — Turnbull warning required; Fingerprint evidence as corroboration; Caution statement; Safety of verdict; Missing exhibits explained
14 August 2000
April 2000
Registration of a UK arbitration award upheld because arbitrators validly had jurisdiction under a concluded contract.
  • Arbitration — Registration of foreign arbitration awards — British and Commonwealth Judgments Act — Enforcement under Arbitration Act (ss.27, 37, 38) — Jurisdiction of arbitrators — Existence of contract determined by documentary evidence
16 April 2000
Procedural defects in treating a witness as hostile and some misdirection on caution statements were noted, but conviction upheld on credible eyewitness evidence.
  • Criminal procedure — hostile witness application — necessity of laying foundation and showing prior statement; Criminal evidence — caution/confession statements — exculpatory statements not evidence of asserted facts but admissible as evidence of making and reaction; Corroboration — no general requirement where single credible eyewitness evidence suffices; Appeal — review of jury verdicts
16 April 2000