The Civil Procedure Code

A plaintiff filing a fresh suit under permission from rule 1 must follow the law of limitation as if the earlier suit had never been filed.

If the court is satisfied that a suit has been settled by lawful agreement, compromise, or payment, it must record that settlement and pass a decree accordingly.

This provision says the Order does not apply to proceedings carried out to execute a decree or order.

A defendant in a suit for debt or damages may deposit money in court at any stage of the case as full satisfaction of the claim.

The defendant must give notice of a deposit to the plaintiff through the court.

A plaintiff who accepts a defendant’s payment as only partial satisfaction may continue the suit for the balance. If the plaintiff accepts it as full satisfaction, the plaintiff must file a statement to that effect, and the court will enter judgment accordingly.

The court may order a plaintiff who lives outside Tanzania and lacks sufficient immovable property in Tanzania to provide security for the defendant’s costs.

If required security is not filed in time, the court must dismiss the suit unless withdrawal is allowed. The plaintiff may later ask to set that dismissal aside if a sufficient cause prevented timely security, and the court must not set it aside without notice to the defendant.

A court may issue a commission to examine a person by interrogatories or otherwise when that person is within the court’s local jurisdiction and cannot attend court because of exemption, sickness, or infirmity.

The court may order a commission to examine a witness, either on its own motion or on application by a party or the witness.

A court may issue a commission for examining a person who lives within the court’s local jurisdiction.

A court may issue a commission to examine certain people outside its reach, and it may decide where the commission must be returned.

A court may issue a commission or a letter of request to examine a person outside Tanzania if it is satisfied that the person’s evidence is necessary.

A court that receives a commission to examine a person must carry out the examination or have it carried out.

If a commission has been duly executed, it must be returned with the evidence taken under it to the issuing court, unless the issuing order says otherwise.

Evidence taken under a commission cannot be read in the suit without the other party’s consent, unless one of the listed exceptions applies.

A court may issue a commission to conduct a local investigation and report back when it considers that investigation necessary or proper.

The commissioner must return the evidence and a signed written report to the court after the inspection and writing up the evidence.

A court may appoint a commissioner to examine or adjust accounts in a suit.

If a preliminary partition decree has been made, the court may appoint a commissioner to carry out the partition or separation in line with the rights declared in that decree.

The commissioner must divide and allot property shares, prepare and transmit reports, and the court must decide what to do with the reports.

Before a commission is issued, the court may require the relevant party to pay a reasonable sum for the commission’s expenses into court within a time the court sets.

A commissioner appointed under this Order may examine people and evidence, and enter land or buildings mentioned in the order, unless the appointment order says otherwise.

People required to give evidence or produce documents under this order are subject to witness-summoning and examination rules, and a commissioner may ask a non-High Court to issue process for a witness.

If a commission is issued, the parties must appear before the commissioner, and if they do not, the commissioner may continue without them. Officers or soldiers who cannot obtain leave may authorize someone else to sue or defend for them.

An eligible officer or soldier may authorize someone else to sue or defend a case for them if they cannot get leave to attend in person.

A person authorised by an officer or soldier may act in court for that officer or soldier, either personally or by appointing an advocate.

Process served on an authorised person, or on an advocate appointed by that person, counts as effective service on the party in person.

In suits by or against a corporation, a pleading may be signed and verified on the corporation’s behalf by the secretary, a director, or another principal officer who can depose to the facts.

If a suit is against a corporation, the summons may be served on specified officers or at the corporation’s registered office or business place, subject to any written law on service of process.

The court may require a corporation’s secretary, any director, or another principal officer to appear personally.

Partners carrying on business in Tanzania may sue or be sued in the firm name, and a party may ask the court for the partners’ names and addresses.

If partners sue in the firm’s name, the plaintiffs or their advocate must promptly tell any defendant who asks in writing the names and residences of all partners.

If partners are sued in their firm name, the summons must be served on one or more partners or, at the partnership’s main place of business, on a person controlling or managing the business; in some cases of a known dissolved partnership, service must be on every liable person in Tanzania.

If a partner dies, the deceased person’s legal representative does not have to be joined to the suit just because the firm is suing or being sued.

If a summons is served on a firm, the person served must be told in writing, at the time of service, how they were served; otherwise they are treated as served as a partner.

If people are sued as partners in their firm’s name, they must appear individually under their own names, and later proceedings continue in the firm’s name.

A person who controls or manages a partnership business does not need to appear after a summons served under rule 3, unless that person is also a partner of the firm being sued.

A person served as a partner under rule 3 may appear under protest and deny being a partner.

This Order applies to certain suits involving firms and partners, and execution in those suits needs leave of court.

A person doing business under a name other than their own may be sued in that business name.

In certain suits about property held by a trustee, executor, or administrator, that person must represent the beneficial owners, and those owners usually do not need to be joined unless the court orders otherwise.

When a suit is brought against one or more of several trustees, executors, or administrators, they must all be joined as parties, except for executors who have not proved the will and trustees, executors, or administrators outside Tanzania.

A suit by a minor must be filed in the minor’s name by a next friend. If a suit is started without a next friend, the plaint may be removed from the file, and the court is to appoint a guardian for the minor defendant.

If a minor sues without a next friend, the defendant may ask the court to strike the plaint and costs may be paid by the advocate or other presenter.

If the defendant is a minor, the court must appoint a proper guardian for the suit, and the application must be backed by an affidavit and notice requirements.

The section sets who may act as a minor’s next friend or guardian for the suit, when the court can allow someone else, and when the court may appoint one of its officers.

Applications to court made on behalf of a minor must be brought by the minor’s next friend or guardian, except in the stated exception.

A next friend or guardian for a minor may not receive money or other movable property without the court’s leave.

A next friend or guardian may not make an agreement or compromise for a minor in the suit unless the court’s leave is expressly recorded.

A next friend cannot retire unless the court orders otherwise and first finds a fit replacement and gives security for costs. An application to appoint a new next friend must be backed by an affidavit showing the proposed person is fit and has no adverse interest to the minor.

The court may remove a minor’s next friend if there is sufficient cause, and must replace the next friend with a suitable guardian applicant in the stated case.

If a minor’s next friend retires, is removed, or dies, the case is stayed until a replacement is appointed.

The court may let a guardian for the suit retire, remove the guardian, and decide costs; if the guardian retires, dies, or is removed, the court must appoint a new guardian.

When a minor involved in a case reaches majority, they must choose whether to continue or abandon the suit or application.

A minor co-plaintiff who becomes an adult and wants to repudiate the suit must apply to have their name removed, and the court can dismiss them or make them a defendant depending on whether they are a necessary party.

A minor who has reached majority may ask the court to dismiss a suit filed in the minor’s name by a next friend if it was unreasonable or improper.

Rules 1 to 14 apply, where applicable, to persons adjudged of unsound mind and to certain other persons found by the court to be unable to protect their interests in litigation.

People with an interest in a mortgage, the security, or the right of redemption must be joined as parties in any suit about the mortgage, subject to this Code, with stated exceptions for a mortgagee and a prior mortgagee in a redemption suit.

If the plaintiff wins a redemption suit, the court must make a preliminary decree, state what is due, and set a payment date; if payment is made in time, the defendant must return documents and, if required, reconvey the property, but if payment is not made the plaintiff loses the right to redeem or the property may be sold.

The court must make different mortgage-redemption orders depending on whether the plaintiff pays the amount due by the fixed day.

If the account shows nothing is due to the defendant or the defendant has been overpaid, the court must order retransfer of the property and payment of any amount due, and may put the plaintiff in possession of the mortgaged property if needed.

When a court is adjusting the amount payable to a mortgagee on redemption, it must add properly incurred suit costs unless the mortgagee’s conduct disentitles him to costs.

A mesne mortgagee may sue to redeem earlier mortgagees and foreclose later mortgagees and the mortgagor when property is mortgaged to successive mortgagees.

If a property ordered to be sold is already mortgaged, the court may, with the mortgagee’s consent, order the sale free of that mortgage and give the mortgagee the same interest in the sale proceeds.

Money from the sale must be paid into court and distributed in a set priority order.

A court may order delivery of possession of mortgaged land to the plaintiff if it is satisfied the plaintiff has the right to that possession.

References to re-transferring mortgaged property are to be read as meaning discharging the mortgage in the stated situations.

Rules in this Order that apply to a mortgage also apply, as far as possible, to mortgages and liens by deposit of title deeds and to statutory charges.

In an interpleader suit, the plaintiff must say in the plaint that they have no interest in the disputed subject matter except for charges or costs, list the defendants’ separate claims, and state that there is no collusion with any defendant.

If the claimed thing can be paid into court or held by the court, the plaintiff may have to do that before getting an order in the suit.

If a defendant in an interpleader suit is also suing the plaintiff about the same subject matter, the court must stay the separate proceedings once informed, and may deal with costs.

At the first hearing, the court may dismiss the plaintiff, keep the parties in the case, decide title, or order issues to be tried. Agents and tenants may not start interpleader suits.

This section says the Order does not give agents or tenants the right to sue their principals or landlords just to force an interpleader with unrelated third parties.

If the suit is properly instituted, the court may provide for the original plaintiff’s costs, including by charging the thing claimed.

Parties interested in a factual or legal question may make a written agreement asking the court for an opinion, and the case stated must be set out in numbered paragraphs with the necessary facts and documents.

If an agreement covers delivery of property or doing or refraining from an act, the agreement must state the estimated value of the property or the act involved.

An agreement may be filed in the court that would have jurisdiction over a suit with the same subject-matter value.

If the agreement has been filed, the parties are subject to the court’s jurisdiction and must follow the statement in the agreement.

A case under this section is heard like an ordinary suit, and if the court is satisfied of the agreement, the parties’ bona fide interest, and the fit for decision, it must pronounce judgment and a decree follows.

This Order applies, if the plaintiff wants to use it, to certain summary suits such as bills of exchange, income tax, mortgages, rent, debts owed to government, and some possession claims.

This section sets a summary procedure: the suit must be started with a plaint marked “Order XXXV: Summary Procedure,” the summons must explain the need for leave to defend, and the defendant cannot appear or defend without that leave.

A court must give a defendant leave to appear and defend a suit when the required affidavits are filed. In mortgage suits, leave may also depend on the mortgagor showing the loan was paid or was never taken.

In certain possession suits against trespassers, the plaintiff must sue unknown occupants as “persons unknown,” and service/hearing deadlines apply.

A plaintiff in a mortgagee possession case must give the occupiers notice at least 14 days before the hearing, and the notice must include key case and hearing details.

In a mortgagee possession suit, the plaint must include detailed mortgage-account information and related case details.

For a possession suit against trespassers, the plaint must state the plaintiff’s interest or basis for possession and the circumstances of occupation without licence or consent.

The court may, in exceptional circumstances, set aside a decree, stay execution, and allow the defendant to appear and defend the suit.

In proceedings under this Order, the court may require the bill or note to be deposited with a court officer and may stay the case until the plaintiff gives security for costs. The holder of a dishonoured bill of exchange or promissory note has the same remedies to recover noting expenses as for the amount of the bill or note.

For suits under this Order, the procedure is generally the same as in suits instituted in the ordinary manner, except as otherwise provided by the Order.

The court may issue a warrant to arrest a defendant and bring him before the court to explain why he should not provide security for his appearance, if specified conditions are met.

A court that issued an arrest warrant may telegraph another district court to arrest the defendant and escort him to the issuing court; the receiving court must then issue and execute a provisional warrant.

If the defendant fails to show cause under rule 1, the court must order a court deposit, security for appearance, or another fitting order. A surety for the defendant’s appearance must pay sums ordered if the defendant does not appear.

A surety may ask the court to release them from the surety obligation. The court must then summon the defendant, and if the defendant appears or surrenders, the court must discharge the surety and require fresh security from the defendant.

If the defendant does not comply with an order under rule 3 or 4, the court may detain him as a civil prisoner until the suit is decided or the decree is satisfied, subject to maximum detention limits.

A court may require a defendant to provide security, produce property, or show cause if the defendant may try to move or dispose of property to delay execution of a decree.

If the defendant does not show cause or provide the required security in time, the court may attach the property. If the defendant later shows cause or provides the security, the court must withdraw the attachment or make another fit order.

Unless another rule expressly provides otherwise, attachment must be carried out using the same manner as attachment of property in execution of a decree.

A claim to property attached before judgment must be investigated in the same way as claims to property attached in execution of a money decree.

An attachment before judgment may be withdrawn if the defendant provides the required security and security for the attachment costs, or if the suit is dismissed.

Attachment before judgment does not affect the prior rights of people who are not parties to the suit, and it does not stop a person with a decree against the defendant from seeking sale of the attached property in execution of that decree.

If attached property is later covered by a decree in the plaintiff’s favor, the applicant for execution does not need to seek re-attachment.

This provision says the Order does not allow the plaintiff to seek attachment of agricultural produce held by an agriculturist, and it does not give the court power to order attachment or production of that produce.

A court may grant a temporary injunction to stop harmful dealing with disputed property, or make another suitable order, until the suit ends or the court orders otherwise.

A plaintiff may apply for a temporary injunction in a suit about breach of contract or other injury, but not if the defendant is the Attorney-General.

The court may grant an injunction under rule 1 or rule 2, for up to six months at first, and may extend it so the total time does not exceed one year.

Before granting an injunction, the court must direct that notice of the application be given to the opposite party, unless giving notice would cause undue delay and defeat the injunction’s purpose.

A court may discharge, vary, or set aside an injunction order if a dissatisfied party applies.

An injunction directed to a corporation also binds the corporation’s members and officers whose personal action it seeks to restrain.

The court may order a sale of movable property in a suit if a party applies and the property is at risk of speedy decay or there is another sufficient reason to sell it at once.

The court may, if a party to a suit applies, order property to be detained, preserved, or inspected, and may authorize entry onto land or building and the taking of samples, observations, or experiments.

The plaintiff may apply for an order under rule 6 or 7 after notice to the defendant, once the suit has been instituted. The defendant may make a similar application after notice to the plaintiff, once the defendant has appeared.

If a suit is about money or another deliverable thing, and a party admits holding it for another party or that it belongs to them, the court may order it deposited in court or delivered to that party.

The court may, if it thinks it just and convenient, make orders about receivership and property management. It may appoint a receiver, remove a person from property, commit property to the receiver, and give the receiver specified powers. The court cannot use this rule to remove someone who a party has no present right to remove.

The court may order how much is to be paid to the receiver for services.

A receiver appointed by the court must give any security the court requires, account for what is received, submit accounts as directed, pay amounts due as directed, and answer for losses caused by willful default or gross negligence.

If a receiver fails to file accounts, pay amounts due, or causes loss through willful default or gross negligence, the court may attach and sell the receiver’s property and use the proceeds to cover what is owed or lost.

An appeal must be filed as a signed memorandum, sent to the High Court or its appointed officer, with the decree attached and usually the supporting judgment, and the grounds must be stated briefly in numbered heads.

An appellant generally cannot rely on appeal grounds not listed in the memorandum of appeal unless the Court gives leave. The Court may consider other grounds, but not if it would decide the case on a new ground without giving the affected party a fair chance to contest it.

If a memorandum of appeal is not properly drawn up, the court may reject it or return it for amendment; if it is rejected, the court must give reasons, and any amendment must be signed or initialled by the judge or appointed officer.

If a suit has multiple plaintiffs or defendants and the decree is based on a ground common to them, any one of them may appeal the whole decree.

An appeal does not automatically stop proceedings or execution, but the court may order a stay in specified circumstances.

When an appeal is pending, the court may require security or stay a sale of immovable property; government and certain public officers do not have to provide that security.

Powers under rules 5 and 6 may be exercised when an appeal is from an order made while executing a decree, rather than from the decree itself.

If an appeal is admitted, the Court or proper officer must note the date of presentation and register the appeal; the appellate court may also require the appellant to provide security for costs.

The Court may require the appellant to provide security for appeal costs, and must do so when the appellant lives outside Tanzania and lacks sufficient immovable property there. If security is not provided on time, the Court must reject the appeal.

The Court may dismiss an appeal in specified hearing situations, including when the appellant does not appear, and it can do so without notice to the other court or the respondent.

The Court must set a hearing date for the appeal unless it dismisses the appeal under rule 11.

If an appeal is not dismissed under rule 11, the Court must notify the lower court, and the lower court must send the relevant papers; either party may also ask in writing for copies of specified papers.

The Court must fix and serve notice of the day fixed under rule 12, and may instead serve the notice directly itself in the stated circumstances.

The notice to the respondent must say that if the respondent does not appear in court on the appointed day, the appeal will be heard ex parte.

The appellant must be heard on the hearing day or any adjourned day, and may reply if the Court hears the respondent and does not dismiss the appeal at once.

If the appellant does not appear when the appeal is called, the Court may dismiss the appeal. If the appellant appears and the respondent does not, the appeal is heard ex parte.

The court may dismiss an appeal if the respondent was not served because the appellant did not deposit the required service cost on time, but it must not do so if the respondent appears at the hearing.

If an appeal is dismissed under certain rules, the appellant may ask the Court to restore it, and the Court must restore it if sufficient cause for non-appearance or non-payment is proved.

The Court may postpone the appeal hearing and order that an interested non-party be added as a respondent; a respondent against whom an ex parte decree was made may object to the decree on hearing as if in a separate appeal.

If an appeal was heard without the respondent present and judgment went against the respondent, the respondent may ask the Court to rehear it.

A respondent may file a cross-objection to a decree, but it must be filed in Court within one month after service of notice of the appeal hearing date, unless the Court allows more time.

If a decree is reversed on appeal after the suit was decided on a preliminary point, the court may remand the case and give directions for what issues should be tried.

The Court may finally determine a suit if the record evidence is enough to let it give judgment.

The Court may send missing issues back for trial and require additional evidence when needed.

The evidence and findings become part of the court record, and either party may object to any finding within a time set by the Court.

Parties to an appeal generally cannot bring new evidence to the court, but the court may allow it in limited cases and must record the reason.

If additional evidence may be produced, the Court may take it itself or direct another subordinate court to take it and send it over.

When additional evidence is allowed, the Court must limit it to specified points and record those points in its proceedings.

The Court must pronounce judgment in open Court after hearing the parties or their advocates.

A court judgment must be written, state the issues, decision, and reasons, and be signed and dated when pronounced.

The High Court may confirm, vary, or reverse the decree on appeal, and may also make a decree or order if the parties agree on the form of the appeal outcome.

The Court may make the decree or order that should have been made, including further or different orders as needed.

If an appeal is heard by more than one judge, a dissenting judge must state in writing the decision or order they think should be made, and may also give reasons.

A court decree must show the judgment date, appeal details, relief or other decision, costs, and be signed and dated by the judge(s), with a registrar signing if needed in a vacancy case.

The Court must provide certified copies of the judgment and decree in an appeal when a party applies, and the party must pay the expense.

The court or its appointed officer must send the certified judgment and decree to the court that passed the appealed decree, file it with the original suit records, and enter the judgment in the civil suits register.

This provision lists specific orders from which an appeal may be brought under section 74.

The rules of Order XXXIX apply, as far as they can, to appeals from orders.

A court may refer a doubtful question of law or usage having the force of law to the High Court for decision.

The court may stay or continue the case, and may issue a decree or order tied to the High Court’s decision, but it must not execute that decree or order until it receives the High Court judgment copy.

The High Court must decide the referred point, send a copy of its judgment to the referring court through the Registrar, and the referring court must then dispose of the case in line with that decision.

If there are costs from a reference for a High Court decision, those costs are treated as costs in the case.

If a case is referred to the High Court under rule 1, the High Court may send it back for amendment, change or cancel decrees or orders from the referring court, and make any order it thinks fit.

If a court doubts whether a suit belongs before it before judgment, it may send the record to the High Court. The High Court may then direct the case to continue or send back the plaint to another competent court.

A person who is aggrieved by a decree or order may ask the court that made it to review judgment, subject to specified grounds and exceptions.

A review application for certain court decrees or orders must be made to the magistrate who passed the decree or made the order, unless notice has already been ordered under the stated rule.

Rules on the form of preferring an appeal also apply, with necessary changes, to applications for review.

The court must reject a review application if there is not enough ground for review, and must grant it if the court thinks review should be allowed, subject to notice and proof requirements.

The judge or judges who made the decree or order must hear a review application if they are still attached to the court and are not prevented by absence or other cause for six months after the application; no other judge may hear it.

If a review application is heard by more than one judge and the court is evenly split, the application must be rejected; if there is a majority, the decision follows the majority opinion.

The court may restore a rejected review application if non-appearance was due to sufficient cause, and it must serve notice on the opposite party before making that order.

The Registrar, Deputy Registrar, or District Registrar may exercise listed High Court powers, subject to the Chief Justice’s direction. Court applications must usually be made by chamber summons supported by affidavit, unless the Code says otherwise.

Process served under this code is generally paid for by the party for whom it is issued, unless the court directs otherwise. The related court fee must be paid before the process is issued, at a time set in advance.

Orders, notices, and other documents that must be served under this Code are to be served in the same way as summons. High Court directions may be notified by telegram.

The Registrar of the High Court may use a telegram to notify a court officer about a High Court order and direct steps to carry it out.

This section says the Rules may be cited as the Civil Procedure (Arbitration) Rules.

If all interested parties in a suit agree to arbitrate a dispute, they may ask the court for an order of reference before judgment, and the application must be in writing and state the matter to be referred.

The arbitrator is to be appointed in a way the parties agree on.

The court must refer a disputable matter to the arbitrator, set a reasonable time for the award, and state that time in the order.

If a reference involves two or more arbitrators, the order must provide a way to handle a disagreement, and the court must set a reasonable time for an umpire’s award when an umpire is appointed.

If the parties cannot agree on an arbitrator, or an arbitrator/umpire cannot act, a party may give written notice to appoint one.

An arbitrator or umpire appointed under rule 4 or 5 has the same powers as if named in the order of reference.

The court must issue the same processes for parties and witnesses that an arbitrator or umpire wants to examine, and noncompliance or contempt can attract the same disadvantages, penalties, and punishments as in court proceedings.

If the arbitrators or umpire cannot finish the award on time, the court may grant more time or end the arbitration and continue with the suit.

If an umpire has been appointed, the umpire may take over the reference from the arbitrators when the time for an award has expired without an award, or when the arbitrators give written notice that they cannot agree.

If an award in a suit has been made, the people who made it must sign it, file it in court with related depositions and documents, and give notice of the filing to the parties.

An arbitrator or umpire may, with the court’s leave, state an award as a special case for the court’s opinion, and the court must give that opinion and make it part of the award.

The court may order an award to be modified or corrected in certain cases.

The court may decide arbitration costs and may send an award or issue back to the same arbitrator or umpire for reconsideration in specified cases.

If an award remitted under rule 14 is not reconsidered by the arbitrator or umpire, it becomes void. The court must then order the arbitration superseded and continue with the suit.

If the court has no reason to send an arbitration award back for reconsideration and no set-aside application is pending or successful, it must enter judgment on the award; a decree then follows, with only limited appeals allowed.

People who have a written arbitration agreement may ask a court to file the agreement, and the court must give notice, hear objections, and file the agreement if no sufficient cause is shown.

A party to a suit covered by an arbitration agreement may apply for the suit to be stayed, and the court may stay it if the stated conditions are met.

Rules 17 and 18 apply to proceedings under the court’s order of reference under rule 17, and to the resulting award and decree, to the extent they are consistent with any agreement filed under rule 17.

A person interested in an arbitral award may ask the court to file it, and the court must give notice to the other arbitration parties.

If a matter has been referred to arbitration and an award has been made, and no listed ground is proved, the court must file the award and give judgment according to it.