(2018) 2 African Human Rights Yearbook 91 considers, broadly, the application of international law in Uganda.4 There is, however, relatively less work which considers the extent to which AU law and ‘REC law’ have been received and applied in national legal orders generally,5 and even less so with regard to the particular context of Uganda.6 The present work, therefore, is an attempt to contribute to the investigation of an under-researched, and yet critical, legal question – the judicial reception of AU law in Uganda. For avoidance of doubt, this article specifically addresses the approach of Ugandan courts to AU law, and does not focus on the related, but separate, question as to the nature and extent of the domestication of this law through legislative and other means. This assessment is done through a review of case law from 1995 to the present. The year 1995 is used as starting point as it witnessed the promulgation of a new Constitution in Uganda, which has provided the foundation for robust constitutional and human rights litigation. As a guide to assessing the extent of judicial reliance on AU law, the article also considers the courts’ reception of European Union (EU) law – that jurisdiction being perhaps the most advanced global effort towards supranational integration. As an additional comparator, the article also considers judicial reference to legal orders created under the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) traditionally viewed as 3 4 5 6 Information for Africa and other regional instruments: soft law and human rights in Africa 165; ME Olivier ‘The role of the African Union law in integrating Africa’ (2015) 22 South African Journal of International Affairs 513; F Viljoen (2012) International human rights law in Africa at 151; E Ugirashebuja, JE Ruhangisa, T Ottervanger and A Cuyvers (eds) (2017) East African Community law: institutional, substantive and comparative EU aspects; KD Magliveras and GJ Naldi (2018) The African Union; and EF Ssempebwa (2015) East African Community law. This includes B Kabumba ‘The application of international law in the Ugandan judicial system: a critical enquiry’ in M Killander (ed) (2010) International law and domestic human rights litigation in Africa 83; J Obitre-Gama ‘The application of international law into national law, policy and practice’ Paper presented at WHO international conference on a global tobacco control law, 7-9 January 2000, New Delhi, India and S Namwase (2011) The principle of legality and the prosecution of international crimes in domestic courts: lessons from Uganda unpublished LLM Dissertation, University of Pretoria. Two papers presented at a conference on the application of international law in regional and domestic courts, 29 July 2010, Kampala, Uganda are also relevant: I MulyagongaKakooza ‘International human rights and the courts in Uganda’ and H Onoria ‘Application of international law in domestic courts: perspectives from practice’. Examples include T Maluwa ‘Ratification of African Union law treaties by member states: law, policy and practice’ (2012) 13 Melbourne Journal of International Law 636 and F Viljoen and L Louw ‘State compliance with the recommendations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1994-2004’ (2007) 101 American Journal of International Law 1. In addition, the important and specific enquiry into the reception and impact of AU soft law has also begun to be undertaken. See, for instance, J Biegon ‘The incorporation of the thematic resolutions of the African Commission into the domestic laws of African countries’ in Shyllon (n 3) 190. Preliminary work in this area includes S Serumaga-Zake and M Ilyayambwa ‘The “promise” of ratification: a Uganda-EAC perspective’ (2014) 5 Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 2172 and S Arach-Amoko ‘Relationship between the domestic courts and regional and sub-regional courts’, also presented at the Kampala conference referenced in n 4 above.