Family Law-adoption-where the child was abandoned by her biological mother and was committed to a children’s home in Nairobi-where the child has been in the applicants’ foster care for one year prior to the application and the home has consented to the adoption-whether adoption orders should subsequently issue

[Ruling] CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE execution proceedings application to commit the respondent to civil jail objection to application on the grounds that it did not comply with the mandatory provisions of the law and was therefore fatally defective effect of applicable principles whether failure to serve the registrar with notice prior to instituting the application - Judicature Act section 5; England Supreme Court Rules Order 52 rules 3 and 4

Judicial review certiorari and mandamus review of orders whether the Deputy Registrar has powers to sign and enter a consent in judicial review proceedings.  

[Ruling] – CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – documents – production of – application to produce documents during hearing – where the original document was not executed – effect of – factors the court considers in such applications – validity of order

Criminal law – forgery and stealing by clerk – appeal against conviction and sentence of imprisonment for 5 years – second appeal – meaning of forgery - Penal Code sections 281 349 – Criminal Procedure Code section 361

Evidence – burden of proof in criminal cases – cases where the burden of proof shifts to the accused – where certain matters are peculiarly within the knowledge of the accused person – appellant having been convicted for forgery and stealing by clerk – evidence that the appellant had failed to account for the difference between monies shown on the original receipts and on the duplicates of the receipts – whether the appellant owed a duty to satisfactorily explain that difference – whether in the absence of such an explanation, a presumption arose that the appellant had converted his employer’s money to his own use - Evidence Act section 111(1)

Family Law - Land Law  - Trust law - Where shares are bought by a husband but registered in the wife's name - Where parties were married and later divorced -  Whether the law imputes to the husband and wife an intention to create a trust - Determination of ownership of shares of a company - Registration of shares - Whether title to land is obtained fraudulently - Whether purchaser is one for value without notice - Standard of proof in civil cases.

[RULING] Appeal-stay of execution pending appeal-whether the court hearing the application for stay has the jurisdiction to consider whether the appeal has a high chance of success-considerations of the court in granting orders of stay-Civil Procedure Rules, Order 41, rule 4

[Ruling] – CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – discovery – objection to the production of documents listed by the respondent – where the person producing the documents is not the maker – getting the maker of he document would be extremely difficult and costly – effect of – applicable principles – whether the court can allow production of documents by another person where the maker is available - Evidence Act section 35

[Ruling] – CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – suit – dismissal of – application for dismissal of suit for want of prosecution – where the plaintiff has not prosecuted the suit for a long period – effect of – factors the court considers in such applications – validity of order – Civil Procedure Rules Order 16 rule 5