evidence be adduced on thepoint. It would, I think, be dangerous to
lay down any hard and first rule.”
In Kajimu Vs The Lukiiko 1949 (Notes on selected decisions of Her Magesty’s court of
Uganda cases originating from the Buganda Courts [1940 – 1958] Nairobi at Page 25
Peerson J. stated:“ the members of the [Superior Native] courts being the superior
elders in each Principality or Province, native custom is, I presume, in
the breasts of the courts”
In Wongo V Dominiko Manano [1958] E.A pg Sir Audley Mc Kisack C.J. took judicial notice
of a local custom of the people of West Nile District when he held:“The court is not obliged to look only to registration to ascertain
whether the respondent is married: the bride price paid although less
than that demanded by the bride’s father was greater than that
permitted by the District Council’s by-law and according to native
custom, of which the court takes notice, that is sufficient evidence of
the woman’s marriage to the respondent.”
Some more definite and positive steps have been taken towards moving away from the very
strict traditional to the liberal approach in the East African region.
In 1961, an amendment to the Tanganyika Local Courts Ordinance provided that the High
Court in exercising its appellate jurisdiction under that Ordinance:
“Shall not refuse to recognize any native law or custom on the
grounds that it has not been established by evidence, but may accept
any statement thereof which appears to it to be worthy of belief which
is contained in the record of the proceedings in or before any lower
court or authority which has exercised jurisdiction in the case or from
the assessors or any other source which appears to be credible or may
take judicial notice thereof.”
The section was reproduced in the Tanganyika Magistrates Court Act 1963. Further, the
Tanganyika Primary Courts (Evidence) Regulations 1964, r.3(3) thereof provides that the
rules of the customary law which apply in a district need not be proved unless a party wishes to
prove them, or unless the primary court, in any particular case, requires a party to prove a rule on
which that party bases his case.
In Kenya, S. 60 (a) of its Evidence Act is now wide enough in scope to include customary law
as law that can be taken judicial notice of. The section provides among matters that can be taken
judicial notice of as:-
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