Court structure refers to an entity in the government to which the administration of justice is

delegated.1 Judicial courts are created by the government through the enactment of the statutes

or by constitutional provisions for the purpose of enforcing the law for the public good. They are

impartial forums for the resolution of controversies between parties who seek redress from the

violation of their legal rights.2

Courts in Tanzania are arranged in a simple and clear hierarchical containing superior courts and

subordinate courts established by two different laws, that is the Magistrate Court Act3

(hereinafter to be referred to as MCA) and the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.4

The hierarch includes the Primary Courts at the bottom of the ladder, followed by the District

Courts and Courts of Resident Magistrates, the High Court of Tanzania and finally the Court of

Appeal of Tanzania which is the highest Appellate Court of mainland Tanzania and for Zanzibar.

Primary Courts are established in every District. The Primary Court is the lowest court in the

judicial ladder in the country. This court is established by the MCA under section 3(1), Primary

Courts were established in 1960 and the rationale was to have courts which would deal with

small matters expeditiously, while at the same time be close to the community. Thus the

procedures in these courts are supposed to be simple and the parties themselves can conduct

cases without the aid of prosecutors and advocates5.

The Districts Courts are established in every district. The District Courts are presided over by the

District Magistrates. These courts are established for under section 4(1) of the MCA, currently

the District Courts in Tanzania are manned by the District Resident Magistrates who are law

graduates6.

The Resident Magistrates Courts are established for under section 5(1) of the MCA. These courts

are presided over by the law graduates; Resident Magistrates Courts are conferred territorial 1 http://legal-dicionary.the freedictionary.com/court+hierarchy Accessed on 4th;December 2010

2 ibid.

3 Cap 11 R.E 20024 1977[ Cap 2 R.E 2002] as amended from time to time.5 I.G. Shivji, Constitution and Legal System of Tanzania, p. 2236 Op cit p 225

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jurisdiction within areas as specified by the Chief Justice by the order in the Gazette establishing

such courts. These are the courts at the administrative level of the region7.

The High Court of the United Republic of Tanzania is established for under Article 108 of the

Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania (supra). The High Court is recently described to

be the superior court having full jurisdiction by virtue of section 2(1) of Judicature and

Application of Laws Act8 in Tanzania the High Court is divided into two, that is to say the High

Court Mainland Tanzania and the High Court of Zanzibar.

The High Court of Zanzibar is established under Article 114 of the constitution of the United

Republic of Tanzania9 as well as under Article 93(1) of the Constitution of Zanzibar. What is

more important is that, the subordinate Courts of Zanzibar10; District or Regional Courts and

Primary Courts are established under the Magistrate Courts Act 11 where as the other Court in

Zanzibar is the Kadhi’s Court which is established under Kadhi’s Court Act12 which has

exclusively jurisdiction on Islamic Law matters

The Court of Appeal of Tanzania of 1979 was established after the collapse of the East Africa

Court of Appeal and the collapse of the former East African Community. The Court of Appeal of

the United Republic of Tanzania is established by the Constitution under Article 117 of the

Constitution (supra). The court of Appeal is a union matter and thus has jurisdiction in both

Tanzania mainland and Tanzania Zanzibar13.

7 Op cit p2268 Cap 358 R.E 20029 1977 [CAP. 2 R.E 2002]

10 Zanzibar Constitution of 1984.

11 Act No,6 of 1985

12 Act No. 3 of 1985

13 Op cit p 2302

THE DIAGRAM SHOWING THE COURT SYSTEMS OF TANZANIA

From the diagram above, it follows therefore that the court structure in Tanzania has been

designed to reflect the need of Tanzanians in settling disputes from the lower courts in the

hierarchy to the higher courts. This structure in administration of civil justice it affords an

opportunity to the parties apart from instituting the case from the lower court to the higher once, 3

High Court of Tanzania

District and Resident Magistrate’s Court

Primary Court

High Court of Zanzibar

Regional Magistrate Court

Juvenile Court

District Court

Primary Court

Court of Appeal of Tanzania

but also to seek other reliefs such as appeals, review, and the courts to make revision and

references.

In case of appeal, in most cases the unsuccessful party if dissatisfied in the judgment of the trial

court, and in other circumstances both parties may be dissatisfied with the outcome of the case.

In such a case the dissatisfied party may appeal or cross appeal (as the case may be) from the

decision of the trial court to a superior court. Indeed this is the right granted by the Constitution

of the United Republic of Tanzania as provided under Article 13(6) (a)14.

As a matter of procedure every suit must be instituted in the court of the lowest grade competent

to try it as per section 13 of the Civil Procedure Code15; and by the provisions of this Act the

District Court and Court of Resident Magistrate which are deemed to be the courts of the same

grade are the lowest court competent to try suits if they otherwise have jurisdiction. So unless

otherwise provided by any law, an appeal from every appealed decree of a Court of Resident

Magistrate or District Court in its exercise of its original jurisdiction lies to the High Court16.

The other relief apart from appeal is review; under this aspect, the law allows any person who is

aggrieved by any decision or order from which appeal is allowed but no appeal has been made to

apply for review of the order or decision made by magistrate who passed the judgment. Review

may also be applied for in circumstances where the party has no right to appeal so that a court

can reverse its decision. This is provided for under Oder XLII Rule 1(b) of the Civil Procedure

Code17 which is to the effect that, the applicant for review has to show that he or she has

discovered new or important matters of evidence and the judge to whom the application is made

is free to alter his or her decision as he or she deems fit.

In line from the above, the other relief is Revisions; the High Court is vested with general powers

of supervision and revision over all district courts and Court of Resident Magistrate in exercise

14 [CAP 2 RE: 2002]15 CAP 33 RE: 200216 Ibid 17 [Cap 33 R.E 2002]

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of their appellate jurisdiction on matters originating from primary courts as well as in the

exercising of their original jurisdiction. Where in the exercise of such powers the High Court

may either call to inspect the record of any proceedings, or direct any District Court to call for

and inspect the record of any proceedings in a Primary Court or it can itself revise any such

proceedings. This position was affirmatively held in the case of Kulwa Daudi Vs Rebeca

Stephan18 where it was stated that, the revisionary power of the High Court may be invoked by

any party to civil case or on the motion of the High Court to correct an error resulting in injustice

committed by a district Court or the Court of Resident Magistrate.

The court structure of Tanzania has been designed to reflect the nature of the disputes and the

way they can be resolved. The lower courts in the hierarchy are there to determine and settle

minor disputes confined within the jurisdiction. However the same court structure provides an

opportunity for an aggrieved party to seek other reliefs from the higher courts by the way of

appeal, review, revision, and reference just to mention few. The court structure in Tanzania as it

is, in the great extent reflected the needs of Tanzanians in settleling disputes this is due to the

fact that whenever dispute arise it is the expectations of the Tanzanians or people involved in the

disputes to have them resolved. It should be noted that, the disputes are of different grades

starting the very minor disputes to the complicated ones.

To meet the needs of Tanzanians in settleling disputes ADR procedure was introduced in the

administration of civil justice in Tanzania vide G.N No.422 of 1994. This amended the first

schedule of the Civil Procedure Code Act19. Those amendments introduced certain stages

between the completion of pleadings and a trial in given case. The amendments introduced into

the code three new orders namely Order.8A, Order 8B and Order 8C. In addition to amending

several other Orders. The amendments came into effect on 1st November, 1994. Order VIII for

example introduced new steps in the civil procedure law; those steps are Settlement and

Scheduling Conferences, Scheduling Orders Speed Track of Cases and Mediation20.

18 (1985) TLR 116.19 CAP 33 RE: 2002

20 B.D.Chipeta, Civil Procedure in Tanzania, Students Manual, pp. 157 & 1585

In the year 2000, mediation was incorporated into law of the land by the 13 th amendment which

provided Article 107A (2) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania21. ADR was

introduced due to many advantages including the following: that the procedure was simple and

flexible, it takes time than the ordinary trial in courts of law, it saves time and money, it is

capable of maintaining the relationship of the parties, it helps in removing or reducing

congestion of cases in the court and that the method maintains privacy between the parties and

the society at large22.

The ADR as a procedure has been introduced in the Tanzania court system for the purpose of

satisfying the need of Tanzanians and ensuring that justice is always done to all the people in a

reasonable speed and time.

Furthermore, in order to ensure that the need of the Tanzanian to settle disputes is met, tribunals

also were established to relieve the courts of law of their increasing workload. Therefore in this

way the tribunals were meant to supplement rather than replace the ordinary courts of law.23

Some of these tribunals are those which deal or based on land matters such as; Land Tribunals

which are established under Section 167 of the Land Act,24 Section 62(2) of the Village Land

Act,25 and Section 3(1) of the Land Disputes Courts Act26, whereas under these Acts there is

Village Land Council, Ward Tribunal and District Land and Housing Tribunal.

Also there are other institutions that have been established to solve disputes apart from courts of

law in amicable manner, these including; “ The Commission for Mediation and Arbitration”.

This is an independent institution established under Section 12 of Labour Institutions Act27 where

it perform duties of conducting arbitrations referred to the Commission and make awards, and

also it performs all other necessary resolutions. All these tribunals are designed to solve disputes

21 CAP 2 RE: 2002

22 Op cit p. 159

23 http://web.africa.ufl.edu (acc 3/12/2010)24 [CAP 113 R:E 2002]25 [CAP 113 R:E 2002]26 CAP 216 RE: 200227 Act No.7 of 2004

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and also to remove the workload of the courts of law so as to meet the need of the Tanzanians to

settle disputes.

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