The Court of Appeal, has ruled that filling of a Written Statement of Defence (WSD) is not mandatory requirement in proceedings before a magistrates court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its Judgment in the case of Jalia Naiga Vs Issa Ssekabira Civil Appeal No. 195 of 2018, CoA held that the filing of a Written Statement of Defence (WSD) is not mandatory on the part of litigants before a Magistrates Court. It however , hastened to add that filling of WSD by advocates is a good practice which should be encouraged as part of the tools of enhancing a fair trial and minimizing \u201ctrial by ambush\u201d before the Magistrates Courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further, the Court held that the failure of a defendant to file a WSD does not ipso facto divest the litigant of locus standi to participate in the proceedings before a Magistrates Court. The trial can lawfully proceed unhindered with the full participation of the defendant even where he\/she\/it (the defendant) has not filed a WSD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In coming to the above position, the Court relied on Order 6 rule 27 of the CPR which is a specific provision applicable to Magistrates Court and Articles 28 and 44(c) which guarantee the right to a fair hearing as a non-derogable right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Editor;msserwanga@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Court of Appeal, has ruled that filling of a Written Statement of Defence (WSD) is not mandatory requirement in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/court-.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15145,"url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/trite-law-retired-judges-warn-of-conflicting-judicial-precedents-in-uganda\/","url_meta":{"origin":14966,"position":0},"title":"Trite Law: Retired Judges Warn of Conflicting Judicial Precedents in Uganda","author":"UgandaUpdate","date":"August 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Retired senior judges have raised the alarm over a rising trend of contradictory court decisions, warning that it is undermining the consistency of Ugandan jurisprudence and creating opportunities for abuse within the legal system. 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