United Republic of Tanzania 1977 Constitution (reviewed 2005)

PART V. THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC

116. Interpretation

1. Subject to the provisions of subarticle (2), the Chief Justice shall have no power over any matter concerning the structure and administration of the day-to-day business of the courts established in accordance with the Constitution of Zanzibar, 1984, or any law of Tanzania Zanzibar.
2. The Chief Justice shall from time to time consult with the Chief Justice of Zanzibar concerning the administration of the business of the Court of Appeal in general, and also concerning the appointment of Justices of Appeal.

117. Court of Appeal of the United Republic and its jurisdiction

1. There shall be a Court of Appeal of the United Republic of the (to be referred to in short as “the Court of Appeal”) which shall have the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal as provided in this Constitution or any other law.
2. The Court of Appeal shall not have any jurisdiction in arbitration of any matter which is to be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of Article 126 of this Constitution concerning a dispute between the Government of the United Republic and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.
3. The functions of the Court of Appeal shall be to hear and determine every appeal brought before it arising from the judgment or other decision of the High Court or of a magistrate with extended jurisdiction.
4. A law enacted in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution by Parliament or by the House of Representatives of Zanzibar may make provisions stipulating procedure for lodging appeals in the Court of Appeal, the time and grounds for lodging the appeals, and the manner in which such appeals shall be dealt with.

118. Justice of Appeal and their appointment

1. There shall be a Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal (who in the subsequent Articles of this Constitution shall be referred to in short as “the Chief Justice”) and not less than four other Justices of Appeal; save that a full bench of the Court of Appeal shall consist of not less than five Justices of Appeal.
2. The Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President from amongst persons who possess qualifications to be appointed as a Justice of Appeal and shall be the Head of the Court of Appeal and of the Judiciary as defined in Article 116 of this Constitution and shall hold the office of a Chief Justice until he attains the retirement age of the Justice of Appeal, except if –
   1. he resigns; or
   2. his office becomes vacant on grounds of illness or death; or
   3. he is removed from the post of the Chief Justice by President.
3. The other Justices of Appeal shall be appointed by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice, from amongst persons who qualify to be appointed Judges of the High Court of the United Republic as provided for in Article 109 of this Constitution, or from amongst persons who qualify to be appointed Judges of the High Court of Zanzibar in accordance with the laws applicable in Zanzibar and have possessed such qualifications for a period of not less than fifteen years.
4. Whenever –
   1. the office of Chief Justice is vacant, or
   2. the Chief Justice is absent from Tanzania; or
   3. the Chief Justice, for any reason, fails to discharge his duties, and if, in the duration of any of these three events the President considers it appropriate to appoint an Acting Chief Justice, then the President may appoint an Acting Chief Justice from among Justices of Appeal.
5. The Acting Justice of Appeal shall perform the duties of the Chief Justice until another Chief Justice is appointed or until the Chief Justice who was absent from Tanzania or was unable to discharge his duties resumes duty.
6. In the event that an office of Justice of Appeal is vacant or that any Justice of Appeal is appointed Acting Chief Justice or if the Justice of Appeal is for any reason unable to exercise of his office, or if the Chief Justice advises the President that the State of business then obtaining in the Court of Appeal requires the appointment of an Acting Justice of Appeal, then the President may, after consultation with the Chief Justice, appoint an Acting Justice of Appeal from amongst persons holding qualifications for appointment as Justice of Appeal in accordance with the provisions of subarticle (4) of this Article.
7. Any person appointed Acting Justice of Appeal shall continue to hold the office of Acting Justice of Appeal for any period specified at the time of his appointment, until his appointment is revoked by the President, but not withstanding that the period of appointment has expired or that the appointment has been revoked, such person may continue to work as Acting Justice of Appeal for as long as may be necessary to enable him to prepare and deliver judgment or to do any other thing in relation to appeals or any other proceedings which were commenced before him prior to the expiration of such period, or the revocation of his appointment.
8. For the avoidance of doubt over the construction of the provisions of subarticle (1) of Article 119 of this Constitution, it is hereby declared that a person appointed an Acting Justice of Appeal shall have full power of a Justice of Appeal and shall discharge all duties of Justices of Appeal, and that the quorum of Justice of Appeal mentioned in Article 122 of this Constitution shall not be invalid on ground only that one or more than one Justice of Appeal at any sitting is an Acting Justice of Appeal.
9. The office of Justice of Appeal shall not be abolished while there is a person holding the office of the Justice of Appeal.

119. Jurisdiction of Justices of Appeal

No Justice of Appeal of shall have jurisdiction to hear any matter in the High Court or in any magistrates’ Court of any grade:

Provided that where a Judge of the High Court is appointed Justice of Appeal he may, notwithstanding such appointment, discharge his functions in the High Court until he completes the preparation and delivery of the decision or until he completes any other business in connection with matters which he had started hearing before his appointment as a Justice of Appeal, and for that purpose it shall be lawful for him to deliver judgment or any other decision concerned in the exercise of the jurisdiction he had before he was appointed Justice of Appeal; provided that where ultimately that judgment or decision is challenged by way of appeal to the Court of Appeal, then in such circumstances that Justice of Appeal shall not have jurisdiction to hear that appeal.

120. Tenure of office of Justices of Appeal

1. Every Justice of Appeal shall vacate his office upon attaining the age of sixty-five, but the provisions of this subarticle shall apply subject to the subsequent provisions of this Article.
2. Any Justice of Appeal may vacate office in the service of the United Republic at any time on attaining the age of sixty five years except where the President directs that he should not vacate office, and if the President so directs, then the Justice to whom the directions of the President relate shall not vacate office until the expiry of the period specified by the President for that purpose.
3. In the event that the President considers it to be in the public interest that a Justice of Appeal who has attained sixty-five years of age continue in office, and the Justice of Appeal agrees in writing to continue in office, then the President may direct that the Justice of Appeal continue in office for any period which may be specified by the President.
4. Notwithstanding that a Justice of Appeal has attained the age at which he is required by the provisions of this Article to vacate his office, a person who was holding the office of Justice of Appeal may continue to perform the functions of that office after attaining that age until he completes the preparation and delivery of decision or until he completes any other business in connection with matters which he had started hearing before attaining that age.

120A. Procedures relating to discipline of Justices of Appeal

1. The procedure for dealing with discipline of Justices of Appeal for offences other than those specified under subarticle (2), shall be as prescribed under the law to be enacted by the Parliament.
2. A Justice of Appeal may be removed from office of a Justice of Appeal for reason of inability to perform the functions of his office (either due to illness or to any other reason) or for misbehaviour and shall not be removed from office except in accordance with procedural provisions similar to those prescribed for removal from office of the Judge of the High Court as stipulated in subarticle (2) and (3) of Article 110A of this Constitution, and for that purpose the provisions of subarticle (4) of Article 110A shall apply to the Justice of Appeal in the same manner as applied to the Judge of the High Court.
3. The provisions of this Article shall apply without prejudice to the provisions of subarticle (5) of Article 118 of this Constitution.

121. Oath of office of Justices Appeal

A Justice of Appeal shall not assume office unless he has taken and subscribed the oath of allegiance and such other oath as may be prescribed by legislation enacted by Parliament.

122. Quorum at sittings the Court of Appeal

1. The quorum at every sitting of the Court of Appeal shall be not less than three of Appeal Justices
2. In every appeal a matter which requires the decision by the Court of Appeal shall be decided on the basis of the majority opinion of the Justices of Appeal hearing the appeal.

123. Jurisdiction of a single Justice of Appeal

A single Justice of Appeal may exercise any power vested in the Court of Appeal not involving the determination of an appeal; except that—

1. in criminal matters, where a Justice of Appeal on an application for the exercise of those powers makes a decision which the applicant is dissatisfied with, then the applicant shall be entitled to require to have his application determined by the full Court;
2. in civil matters, the Court of Appeal may nullify or alter an order, direction, or decision of any other kind made by a single Justice of Appeal in accordance with the provisions of this Article.