Family law - divorce - petition for dissolution of marriage - grounds: cruelty, desertion - respondent failing to file reply to petition - petition undefended - duty of the petitioner to establish his case on a balance of probabilities

Family law - Divorce - Application for dissolution of marriage - Grounds for divorce -Determination whether petition had been condoned or connived - Considerations by the court in dissolving a marriage. 

Family law-divorce-desertion-where the wife took up residence elsewhere and never contacted the petitioner again-elements of desertion

[RULING]

Civil Procedure – extension of time – application for leave to file and serve a notice of appeal out of time – Court of Appeal Rules rule 4 – principles upon which the court will exercise its discretion to extend time – factors the court will consider - the merits of the intended appeal, the reason for the delay, the length of the delay and the likelihood of prejudice to the respondent.

Land-access road-where the details in the survey map and the demarcation map differ substantially-where there has been an earlier court decision prohibiting the excising of a road passing through the defendants land-whether the plaintiff has a valid claim in such circumstances

Succession cause - Customary Law - Family Law - Application for orders declaring sole heirship and beneficiary of an estate - Where a person is capable of celebrating another marriage having married another under Statutory Law - Whether the case has been established to the required standard - Section 11 (1) of the Public Trustee Act - Order 36 rule 1(a) and (g) of the Civil Procedure Rules.

[Ruling] Civil Practice and Procedure – appeal – extension of time – application for extension of time for serving notice of appeal out of time – reason for delay: mistake of advocate - misapprehension of the law - that the applicant’s advocate had been under the impression that the time prescribed for serving the notice began to run after the notice had been signed by the Registrar – whether the mistake was excusable – whether an extension of time may operate to deem a record that is already filed in contravention of the rules to have been properly filed and served - Court of Appeal Rules rules 4, 76(1)

Judicial Review – prohibition – applicant having been arrested and charged for allegedly being unlawfully present in Kenya when he was facing another trial for a similar offence before another court – republic stating that the offences had been committed on different dates - order of prohibition sought to stop a the subsequent criminal prosecution on the ground that it was an abuse of the court process, malicious, unconscionable and contrary to natural justice and public policy – defence of auterfois acquit - Constitution section 77(5); Criminal Procedure Code section 138; Law Reform Act section 8; Immigration Act section 13(2)

[Ruling] Civil Practice and Procedure – appeal – extension of time – application for extension of time to file and serve notice and record of appeal – reference of the decision of a single judge to the full court – single judge having found that the applicant had failed to satisfactorily explain the delay of 7 months and considering also the chances of the intended appeal succeeding and the likelihood of prejudice to the respondent – nature of a reference to the full court and the principles the Court will consider in determining it -  Court of Appeal Rules rule 5(2)(b)

Family law - divorce - petition for the dissolution of marriage - allegations of cruelty and adultery against the respondent - duty of the petitioner to establish the allegations by evidence - how cruelty and adultery are proved - the standard of proof applied - whether the petitioner had proved its case.