Constitutional Court Rules, 2016

This section is titled “Interpretation” under Order I, Practice and Procedure.

This provision is titled “Applicability of English practice and procedure” under Order II, Registry and Filing.

Section heading: “Acts done on Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.”

This section concerns documents that are not permitted to be filed electronically.

Section 7 is titled “Hyperlinks, bookmarks and other electronic navigational aids.”

This section is titled “File transmission, confirmation, acceptance and rejection” and includes a stated copy price of K88.00 each.

This section is titled “Form of proceedings” and appears under “Commencement of proceedings.”

This section concerns how an action is commenced by originating notice of motion or originating summons.

Section 3 is titled “Reference of matter to Court by Republican President.”

Section 4 is titled “Answer to petition, originating notice of motion or originating summons.”

This section is titled “Filing and marking” under Order V, “Parties to Proceedings.”

This section applies where a petitioner or applicant is in doubt.

This section concerns proceedings started in the name of the wrong person.

Section 4 is titled “Order for striking out or adding name of party.”

Section 5 is titled “Amendment of petition, originating notice of motion or originating summons.”

This section is about preventing communication with a witness.

Section 10 is titled “Entries in books of account.”

This section concerns proof of proclamation of the Act and other official communication.

Section 3 is titled “Books of science, maps, charts and literature.”

Section 4 is titled “Foreign law.”

This section is about examined or certified copies of documents.

Section 7 concerns producing documents without giving evidence.

Section 8 is titled “Documents to be exhibited in affidavit.”

This section concerns amendment of an affidavit and reswearing.

13. Contents of affidavit 14. No extraneous matter in affidavit

Section 15 concerns grounds of belief that are to be stated in an affidavit.

Section 19 is titled “Objection to evidence.”

This section concerns how rejected documents are marked.

4. Facilities for proving deed or instrument ORDER IX SERVICE OF PROCESS

Section 5 is titled “Substituted service.”

Section 7 is titled “Mode of service when personal service not required.”

Section title only: service on an advocate for a party who formerly appeared in person.

This section is titled “Service on person in asylum or prison.”

Section heading referring to service on a respondent outside the jurisdiction while carrying on business within the jurisdiction.

This section concerns an application for leave to serve out of jurisdiction.

Section 14 is titled “Service on foreign person in foreign country.”

This section is titled “Failure to respond within stipulated time.”

This section is titled “Interlocutory application” and refers to hearing and determination of matters.

Section heading for “Settlement by consent” under Order XI (Appeals and Cross-Appeals).

Section 7 is titled “Appeal not to operate as stay of execution.”

Section heading: “Register of appeal.”

This provision is labeled “Judgment” and “Costs.”

Section heading: application to a taxing officer for review.

This provision is titled “Appeal against taxing officer’s decision.”

Section heading: commencement of a presidential election petition.

Section 3 is titled “Scheduling conference.”

Section 3 is titled “Clerical errors and accidental slips or omissions.”

Section 7 is titled “Extension of time” and introduces the Rules.

These Rules may be cited as the Constitutional Court Rules, 2016.

This section defines terms used in the Rules, including applicant, Court, interested party, Master, Registry, respondent, Republican President, Republican Vice-President, single judge, and taxing officer.

The Court must handle practice and procedure according to the Act, these Rules, other written law, and any Court-made rules or directions; if there is no provision, it should follow the listed English practice sources.

The Court Registry must be located at Lusaka.

A person must file the proper documents in the Registry to start proceedings in Court, and the Registry must keep both paper and electronic registers of documents.

If a required act falls due on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, doing it on the next non-holiday weekday is valid and effective.

If a notice, record, or other document must be in writing under these Rules, it may be provided in electronic or hard copy form, as applicable.

Documents may be filed electronically in some cases, and a party appearing in person may use e-filing or conventional filing.

Certain documents must be filed conventionally rather than electronically.

The Master must keep electronically filed court documents in electronic format and treat them as the Court’s original official record.

A filing party must format electronically filed documents to match the relevant paper-document, procedure, and court-required formats. The Master must not reject a document that substantially complies with the rules of procedure or a written law.

Parties may file documents electronically in listed file formats, but electronically filed documents are converted to PDF after acceptance and filing by the Registrar, and the Court may require the original of a scanned exhibit. A party must also submit a proposed order electronically in Microsoft Word.

Electronically filed documents may include hyperlinks and similar aids, but hyperlinks are not part of the filed document, the official court record, or the stored electronic version.

The Master must ensure parties and legal practitioners are registered and given a user name and password; the section also sets how electronic signatures and paper filing work.

Electronic filing documents must be virus-scanned, reviewed, and either accepted, rejected, or marked incomplete depending on the outcome.

A party filing a document electronically must make sure it is properly filed, complete, legible, and that other parties receive the appropriate copies.

Court filings and records of appeal must follow specified paper, binding, margin, pagination, and numbering format rules, with a limited exception where impracticable.

Matters brought before the Court under the Act must start with a petition in Form I, and the petition must be signed and filed with an affidavit verifying facts.

Certain matters must start by originating notice of motion, while constitutional interpretation matters must start by originating summons.

The Republican President must refer a matter to the Court in writing, with a written notice giving the issues for determination, and the Court must hear and determine it within seven days of receiving it.

This section sets response deadlines for petition respondents and gives the petitioner a limited time to reply.

A proper officer must seal a petition, originating notice of motion, or summons; once sealed, it is treated as issued.

When filing a petition, summons, or motion for sealing, the petitioner, applicant, or their advocate must leave a signed copy with the proper officer.

An officer who receives a petition, originating summons, or originating notice of motion must file a copy.

If a petitioner or applicant is unsure who should be sued for redress, they may join two or more respondents so liability can be decided among all parties.

A case is not defeated just because parties were misjoined or not joined, and the Court may deal with the dispute in any proceeding.

The Court may replace or add a petitioner or applicant if the case was started in the wrong name, the mistake was made in good faith, and it is needed to decide the dispute.

The Court may order a wrongly joined party to be removed or add a person who should have been joined.

If a respondent is added or substituted, the case documents must be amended as needed and amended copies served on the new respondent; the Court may also allow service on the original respondents.

A person may apply to be joined as an interested party only with the Court’s leave, and the Court may also join a person on its own motion.

If the cause of action survives, the death of a petitioner or applicant does not make the suit abate.

The Court may order witnesses to stay out of Court, either when a party applies or on its own motion, but not the parties or their professional representatives.

The Court may take necessary and proper measures during a trial to stop communication with witnesses awaiting examination in the Court House or its precincts.

Entries in books of account kept in the ordinary course of business may be admitted as evidence if they are kept with a reasonable degree of regularity satisfactory to the court or judge, but they cannot by themselves prove liability.

A Government Gazette from Zambia or another Commonwealth country may be proved by producing the Gazette itself.

Certain government communications published in the relevant Gazette may be proved by producing that Gazette, and the Gazette is prima facie proof of the public fact it was meant to notify.

The Court or a Judge may, in evidence matters about public history, literature, science, or art, refer to published books, maps, or charts considered authoritative.

Books meeting the listed foreign-law descriptions are admissible as evidence of that foreign country’s law.

A map made by a government or public municipal body, and not made for a litigated question, is treated as correct on its face and can be admitted in evidence without further proof.

A copy or extract of a public book or document can be admitted in evidence if it is signed and certified as a true copy or extract by the officer who holds the original, and no law already makes the contents provable by copy.

A person may be summoned to produce a document, but not to give evidence. If the document is produced, the Court or a Judge may excuse the person from attending in person.

If a party wants to rely on a document, the document must be exhibited in the supporting affidavit.

Before an affidavit is used in any proceeding, the original must be filed in court, and only the original or an office copy may be recognised by the court or a judge.

An affidavit must not be admitted if it was sworn before the person for whose benefit it is offered, that person’s advocate, or a partner or clerk of that advocate.

The Court or a Judge of the Court may allow an affidavit to be used even if it has a defect in form, but only if satisfied it was sworn before a duly authorised person.

A defective or erroneous affidavit may be amended and resworn if the Court or a Judge gives leave.

An affidavit may include only facts and circumstances based on the witness’s own knowledge or information the witness believes is true.

An affidavit must not include extraneous matter such as objections, prayers, legal arguments, or conclusions.

A witness who relies on belief from something other than personal knowledge must state the facts and circumstances that support that belief.

If a witness’s belief comes from another person, the witness must state the informant’s name and give reasonable details about the informant and the information.

Commissioners and other officers taking affidavits must follow the listed affidavit format rules, may refuse defective affidavits, and may take certain declarations without oath.

If a handwritten document is exhibited with an affidavit, a typewritten or printed certified copy must also be exhibited, except for certain account-related documents and extracts.

A party affected must object to evidence when it is offered.

If a witness question is objected to, the Court or a Judge must, when asked by either party and unless the objection is frivolous, note the question, the objection, whether the question was allowed, and any answer if it was put.

If a document tendered in evidence is rejected by the Court or a Judge, it must be marked as tendered and rejected.

Witnesses are normally examined orally in open court, but the court can allow affidavit evidence or other methods in some cases.

The Court may admit an affidavit as evidence if the interests of justice require it and reasons are recorded, even if the other party had no chance to cross-examine the person who made the affidavit.

A person may apply for evidence to be taken before a suit starts if the court is satisfied on oath of the stated grounds.

A party who wants to rely on a deed or instrument must give the other party written notice at least four clear days before the return day, listing the date, nature, and parties, and asking for admission of execution.

The petitioner or applicant must serve the respondent with the originating process within five days of filing, unless these Rules or the Court direct otherwise.

Any person may personally serve a petition, originating notice of motion, originating summons, order, or other document that must be served.

A person serving a document must explain its contents to the party served if that party requests it.

A person serving originating process must ask the served party to sign to acknowledge receipt, and must note any refusal to sign.

If personal service cannot promptly be done, the Court or a Judge may order substituted or other service. An application for that order must be supported by an affidavit stating the grounds.

Court process must not be served on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday.

If personal service is not required, a document or proceeding may be served by leaving it at the person’s address for service with a resident there or by posting it in a prepaid registered envelope to that address. Service by registered post is treated as occurring when the item would ordinarily be delivered.

If a party has started a case or appeared personally and gives written notice through an advocate that the advocate is authorised to act, documents and proceedings should be served on that advocate.

This section says how court documents and proceedings are to be served on a partnership or body corporate.

If the person to be served is a prisoner, delivery of the document at the prison to the jailer or head officer-in-charge is sufficient service.

If the person to be served lives and works in a medical institution, public asylum, or prison, delivery to the gatekeeper or lodge keeper is sufficient service.

If a respondent lives outside Zambia but carries on business in Zambia through an authorised agent, and the case arose in Zambia, court documents may be served on that agent.

An application for leave to issue court process for service out of the jurisdiction may be made ex parte to the Court or a Judge, and it must state several required details.

If court process is to be served outside Zambia on a non-citizen, only notice of the originating process, not the originating process itself, must be served on that person.

If personal service of court process is blocked by violence or threats, the process may be served by telling the person what it is and leaving it as near as practicable.

The Court must, unless these Rules provide otherwise, call a scheduling conference, give any necessary directions, and set a hearing date as soon as practicable and no later than 7 days after the petition is filed.

If the respondent does not answer in time, the Court may hear the petition or application without the respondent. The Court may also set that decision aside, subject to costs, on its own motion or on application by the respondent or an affected party.

The Court may consolidate causes or matters, either on its own motion or when a party applies, on terms it considers just.

A party may amend the process or a document only with the Court’s leave, and only before the hearing ends.

Interlocutory applications under the Act must be made by summons or notice of motion, and the summons and notice must use Forms V and VI in the Schedule.

The Court may direct that a hearing under the Act be held in open court or in chambers, and evidence before the Court may generally be given by affidavit or orally unless these Rules say otherwise.

The Court may hear interim-order applications, allow them to be made and granted ex parte, vary or set aside ex parte orders on a dissatisfied party’s application, and require service of the order on the respondent or by substituted service with leave.

A petitioner or applicant may apply to discontinue a matter before judgment, after notice to the Court and respondent. The Court may allow discontinuance or withdrawal subject to costs, and if it refuses, it must give directions for what happens next.

The parties may record an amicable settlement if the Court gives leave.

This Order applies only to appeals and cross-appeals.

This section sets out how leave to appeal to the Court may be granted, refused, and renewed, and what steps must follow if leave is granted or refused.

A person who wants to appeal must give notice, and the notice and memorandum must be filed with the Registrar within 30 days after the judgment.

For nomination-related election appeals, the appeal papers must be filed within 5 days, and the Court must hear and decide the appeal within 14 days of lodgement.

The appellant must lodge the appeal within 30 days after filing a notice of appeal, subject to rule 4 and any extension of time.

If an appeal is not lodged as required by rule 5, the respondent may ask the Court to dismiss the appeal for want of prosecution or make another order about the appeal.

An appeal does not automatically stop enforcement or proceedings unless the High Court or Court orders otherwise.

The Master must enter lodged appeals in the register of appeals, give each appeal a serial number, and tell the appellant the number.

An appellant must prepare the appeal record and memorandum with specified contents, serve the record on required parties, and the respondent must file and serve heads of argument on time.

If the respondent thinks the appellant’s record is defective, the respondent may file a supplementary record of appeal.

A respondent who wants to argue for changing the lower court or tribunal decision may give a cross-appeal notice within seven days after receiving the appeal record, and must file 20 hard copies in the Registry.

The Respondent may appear personally or through an advocate at the Constitutional Court Registry, Lusaka, and a person appearing personally may apply by post if desired.

If a respondent wants to raise a preliminary objection to an appeal, they must give notice to the Court and the other party at least 7 days before the hearing, subject to rule 4.

An appellant or respondent may file a written notice in the Registry saying they do not want to attend the appeal hearing, if it is at least seven days before the hearing day and after lodgment.

This rule lets the Court deal with an appeal hearing when a party does not appear, and lets an absent party ask for the appeal to be heard again within 7 days in some cases.

The court must pronounce judgment in open court, and the Master must give notice when judgment will be delivered later. Certified copies go to the High Court, lower courts or tribunals, and the parties or their practitioners. An interested party may get a copy by paying the prescribed fee.

The court may make or assess costs orders, taxation proceedings must start within three months of judgment (unless the taxing officer allows more time), fees may be prescribed by the Chief Justice, and the taxing officer may sign the taxation certificate only after payment.

“Costs” includes necessary expenses incurred by either party in a cause or matter, including enforcing an order.

Questions about the amount of costs are normally referred to a taxing officer, unless the Court decides them summarily.

A person affected by a taxing officer’s decision may ask that officer to review it, but must do so within 14 days or a shorter period set by the officer, and must file written objections at the same time.

If a party disagrees with a taxing officer’s decision on an item, the party may appeal to a single Judge of the Court.

A presidential election petition must be filed in Court within 7 days of the election result being declared, and it must include specified details and supporting documents.

The respondent must file an answer to a petition within 5 days of service, and the petitioner may reply within 2 days after being served with the answer and opposing affidavit.

A judge must call a scheduling conference right after a petition and answer are filed, give trial directions, and the court must not allow oral testimony without a filed witness statement.

When hearing a matter under the Act, the Court may grant one or more listed remedies, including declaration, mandamus, certiorari, prohibition, restitution, damages, or another just remedy.

The Registry must not accept a document required to be filed unless the prescribed fees have been paid.

The Court may correct clerical errors or accidental slips in documents, process, or judgments, but only with leave of the Court and within seven days of the decision.

When an oath is required, the person must hold the Bible in the uplifted right hand unless physically incapable, may hold it another way or have it held by the officer, and may choose to affirm instead of swearing on the Bible.

The Court may adjourn proceedings before it to a time and place it chooses.

This rule explains how to count time periods: the starting day is usually excluded, weekends and public holidays can shift the last day to the next day, and excluded days are not counted for periods of six days or less.

The Court may extend a time limit set by these rules or by a court decision, unless the Constitution specifically limits that time.