Skip to document content Skip to main menu Skip to search

Property Law

11 documents
Advanced search
Filters
Skip to results
Property Law
11 documents
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
Judgment 30 December 2025
Exploits University v Guojun & Sambiri (Civil Cause 389 of 2020) [2025] MWHCCiv 2 (29 January 2025)
Claim dismissed with costs for failure to comply with trial directions and an incompetent adjournment request.
  • Adjournment applications — competence and supporting evidence; failure to comply with trial directions; failure to prosecute; court’s discretion to grant adjournments; dismissal with costs.
Judgment 29 January 2025
Alisen v Mseka & Majavina (Commercial Case 111 of 2016) [2025] MWCommC 1 (27 January 2025)
Judgment 27 January 2025
Hathiramani, Hathiramani & Jal v The Attorney General (846 of 2010) [2024] MWHCCiv 19 (5 November 2024)
Court escalated the 1981 compensation for the applicant's compulsorily acquired land to MK20,000,000 and denied aggravated damages.
  • Land Acquisition Act (as in force at acquisition) — assessment of fair compensation — section 10 factors (consideration paid, improvements, appreciation) — valuation methodology and escalation of historic award — post-acquisition change of land use not to be used to increase historic compensation — aggravated/exemplary damages against State — requirements; loss-of-opportunity claim not entertained if unpleaded.
Judgment 5 November 2024
M'bwana & Chingomanje v The District Commissioner of Salima & Persons Unknown (Being Land Cause No. 100 of 2024 and Judicial Review No. 26 of 2024) [2024] MWHCCiv 12 (27 October 2024)
Registrar rejected duplicate originating proceedings as an abuse of process and improper filing at the wrong registry.
  • Registrar's power to reject documents — abuse of court process by duplicative filings (summons and judicial review) — improper forum/registry — Order 5 rules 10–13; Order 6 r9; Courts Act s3 and s6A(2).
Judgment 27 October 2024
Kanjere v Patel & Chizizi (37 of 2023) [2024] MWHCCiv 15 (11 October 2024)
A summons signed by a firm rather than a named legal practitioner is a nullity and must be struck out.
  • Civil procedure — signature requirements for originating processes — Order 5 r3 & Order 7 r1(h) CPR; Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act — definition of 'legal practitioner' as natural person on the Roll; firm name not a legal practitioner; originating process signed by firm is nullity and incurable.
Judgment 11 October 2024
Ngwira v Ngwira & Chiumia (Miscellaneous Civil Case 36 of 2018) [2024] MWHCCiv 22 (24 April 2024)
Whether claimant proved title to the plot and whether the purchaser was a bona fide purchaser without notice.
  • Property law — proof of title: municipal offer/receipt and council confirmation as evidence; nemo dat principle; bona fide purchaser for value without notice — duty of due diligence and requirements; authentication of registry extracts and secondary documents.
Judgment 24 April 2024
Kuweruza v Kampaundi (Civil Appeal 116 of 2016) [2024] MWHC 20 (18 March 2024)
Appellate court found the purported will invalid, held customary law must be proved under section 64, and restored land to the appellant and siblings.
  • Succession and customary land — validity of will under DEWIPA — DEWIPA prevails over customary law on inheritance — customary law is a question of fact requiring proof under section 64 Courts Act — proof required before land can be treated as attached to chieftaincy — Magistrate court jurisdiction and remedies for property loss.
Judgment 18 March 2024
Tung'ande v Chidwala, Thengele & Emily (Miscellaneous Civil Cause 87 of 2021) [2024] MWHC 64 (27 January 2024)
Judgment 27 January 2024
Ngwira & Chiumia v Ngwira (MSCA Civil Appeal 16 of 2020) [2021] MWHCCiv 215 (23 June 2021)
Whether striking out a defence at mandatory mediation was a proportionate sanction and whether mediation confidentiality was breached.
  • Civil procedure — mandatory mediation — Order 13 r.6 CPR (2017) — striking out defence for non-attendance — proportionality of sanction; mediation confidentiality — Order 13 r.7 — use of mediation materials in substantive orders; case management discretion — appellate review; restoration and costs as remedies.
Judgment 23 June 2021
Mkandawire & Anor. v Tropha Estate Limited & Anor. (Civil Cause 142 of 2017) [2017] MWHC 819 (11 September 2017)
Mediator found the proposed pump site within road-reserve/buffer-zone intersection; construction confined there not violating plaintiffs' customary rights.
  • Land law — customary land v public land — road reserve and river buffer zone intersection — Waterworks Act s.6 — entitlement to injunctive relief where works extend onto customary land.
Judgment 11 September 2017