Criminal law - defilement of a girl contrary to section 145(1) of the Penal Code - accused convicted on his own plea of guilty and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment - appeal against conviction and sentence - grounds: that the trial court failed to make inquiry as to the language the accused person understood and hence it would have avoided a miscarriage of justice - court record not stating the language used by the accused or by the prosecutor - manner in which pleas of guilty should be recorded and the steps which should be followed - The trial magistrate is placed in a fiduciary position to make sure that the accused person who wishes to admit his guilt does so with no ambiguity. It is also always important to avoid doubt on appeal for the trial court to record the language used by the accused while admitting the charge and the facts - record showing that the accused had address the court on three occasions - whether this showed that he understood the language of the court - whether the failure by the trial court to record the language used created a doubt which meant that the appellant's plea of guilty was not unequivocal.

[RULING] Civil Procedure and Practice - Notice of Withdrawal under Order XXIV rules 1 and 2 of the Civil Procedure Rules - Withdrawal of a claim filed by a dead person - An affidavit allegedly sworn by a dead person - Pleadings are struck out.

[RULING] Civil Procedure and Practice - Preliminary objection against Motion seeking for stay of execution of orders - At which stage can a preliminary objection be raised at trial -Order L rule 1 of the Civil Procedure Rules - Order XLI rule 8B does not bar a party from having an appeal determined before admission.

[Ruling] – CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - setting aside – application to set aside ex parte judgment – applicant’s advocate failed to attend hearing – where advocate was not the applicant’s own choice – effect of – validity of order - Civil Procedure Rule Order 9A rule 10 and Order 9B rule 8

RULING] - Preliminary objection – whether preliminary objection raised,if argued it would dispose of the whole appeal and whether that such application can only be entertained after the appeal has been admitted pursuant to the provisions of order XLI rule 8B of the Civil Procedure rules - a preliminary may be taken at any time of the proceedings so long as the same qualifies to be defined as such. It is well settled that a preliminary objection consists of a point of law which has been pleaded,or which if argued as a preliminary point may dispose of the suit or the appeal

[RULING] Family law - divorce - petition for dissolution of marriage - application by petitioner/husband to bar wife by injunction from alienating or dealing in any manner with a piece of land pending the hearing of the petition - wife filing preliminary objection on the ground that court was not seized with jurisdiction to hear the matter in view of section 12 of the Civil Procedure Act as the property in dispute was situate in Nairobi and the parties also resided in Nairobi. Further that that it was convenient for the parties if the matter was heard in Nairobi - The High court has unlimited territorial and pecuniary jurisdiction to hear and determine all disputes filed before it. However it has the discretion to determine where to hear the disputes depending on circumstances of each case - nature of a preliminary objection CIVIL PROCEDURE - misjoinder of causes of action

[RULING] Civil Practice and Procedure-temporary injunction-where the suit property was registered as security on a charge to the first defendant who became the registered proprietor in October 1997 but he did not seek vacant possession thereof from the plaintiffs until November 2004 and the plaintiffs had been in possession of the property since 1996-where the plaintiff have erected two Industrial Estate Sheds on the property from which they earn their livelihood-whether the plaintiffs are likely to suffer great loss if the injunction is not granted-whether interim orders should be issued