High Court of Tanzania

In 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar formed the United Republic of Tanzania. After the Treaty of the Union, the two countries continued to remain with their own legal systems including court structures. In the 1977 Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, the High Court of Tanganyika whose jurisdiction was and still is territoriality limited to Tanzania Mainland (formerly Tanganyika) was called the High Court of Tanzania and the High Court of Zanzibar retained its original name. It is essential to note that the High Court of Tanzania only has territorial jurisdiction over legal issues arising in Tanzania Mainland and the High Court of Zanzibar has territorial jurisdiction over legal issues arising in Zanzibar.

The Courts in the United Republic of Tanzania are arranged in a simple and clear hierarchy containing superior courts and subordinate courts and a special constitutional court, which is formed only when there is a constitutional dispute arising between Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland. In the history of the Union of Zanzibar and Tanganyika a special Constitutional court has never been formed, despite open disagreements on the interpretation and nature of the Union. The Courts of the United Republic of Tanzania are established by the Constitution and municipal laws of Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland. In Tanzania Mainland, the High Court of Tanzania has three divisions, namely the Commercial Division (the Commercial Court), the Land Division (the Land Court) and the Labour Division (the Labour Court).

On the other hand, Zanzibar only has one division of its High Court but is establishing a Commercial Division of the High Court of Zanzibar. The High Court of Zanzibar has a registry in Pemba and in Zanzibar, however, the registry in Pemba does not have a resident judge. The High Court of Tanzania has registries in Dar es Salaam, Moshi, Tanga, Arusha, Iringa, Bukoba, Dodoma, Mwanza, Mbeya, Mtwara,Tabora and all the registries have resident judges.

The highest court of the United Republic of Tanzania is the Court of Appeal of the United Republic Tanzania which is a true union institution in that it has territorial jurisdiction over appeals arising from the High Court of Tanzania and the High Court of Zanzibar.

The Commercial Court handles all commercial disputes. This Court was established through amendment of the High Court Registries Rules of 1984. The main objective of establishing this court was to ensure efficient management and expeditious disposal of commercial disputes so as to encourage business development under a free market economy and also growth of foreign investments.

The Labour Court is responsible for hearing and determining employment disputes. It was first inaugurated and launched in June 2007 under the Employment and Labour Relations Act.

The Land Court was established as a result of the land reforms which were implemented by the Land Act 1999. Until 2010, the Land Court had exclusive jurisdiction to determine land disputes relating to land with a pecuniary value of TZS 50,000 or more. Due to lack of sufficient manpower, including judges and the large number of cases being filed in the Land Court, the efficient and timely disposal of cases was negatively impacted. Consequently, in 2010, the Chief Justice of Tanzania, Augustino Ramadhani CJ, extended the jurisdiction to deal with land cases to all judges of the High Court.

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Wikipedia