Contents
1.
Who is this Users Guide for and how can it help? ............................................. 1
2.
What is the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community? ........ 1
3.
What is the East African Court of Justice (EACJ)? ............................................ 2
4.
Why is the East African Court of Justice needed? ............................................. 2
5.
What are the main Objectives of the Court for achieving its mission? ............... 2
6.
What are the Composition, Structure and Location of the Court? ...................... 3
7.
What does the First Instance Division of the Court do? ..................................... 3
8.
What does the Appellate Division of the Court do? ............................................ 3
9.
Over what subject matters does the Court have legal authority to administer
justice (i.e. What is the scope of the Court’s jurisdiction)? ................................. 3
10. Who can Access the Court? .............................................................................. 4
11. Who may appear or be represented before the Court? ..................................... 6
12. How does a trial or a case before the Court begin; and who are involved in the
case? ................................................................................................................. 6
13. What are the contents of a claim or complaint presented before the EACJ? ..... 7
14. What are the contents of a Claim between the Community and its Employees? 7
15. What happens after a case is presented before the Court? ............................... 8
16. What happens if the Respondent/Defendant cannot be found?......................... 8
17. What is the procedure when a suit is brought against someone? ...................... 8
18. How should a Defendant respond in his or her Defence? .................................. 9
19. What happens if a Respondent fails to file a Response/Defence? .................... 9
20. What happens after the Respondent files a Defence? ....................................... 9
21. Do the Parties have to pay in order for the Court to fix a trial date? ................ 10
22. How should you address the Court’s officials? ................................................ 10
23. What are the Titles of the people you will meet at the hearing? ....................... 10
24. How does the Court hearing proceed? ............................................................ 10
25. What happens if the Applicant or the Respondent or Both fail to attend the
hearing? ........................................................................................................... 11
26. What are the different Court Proceedings and how is the Oral Proceeding
conducted? ...................................................................................................... 11
27. The Court’s Judgments, Rulings, Decisions, Decrees and Orders .................. 16