Book Reviews
| Published date | 01 April 1966 |
| Date | 01 April 1966 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1966.tb00265.x |
Book Reviews
Criminal Procedure in Uganda& Kenya. by
DOUGLAS
BROWN,
London:
Sweet &Maxwell; Nairobi: East African Publishing House; Lagos:
African Universities Press, 1965; pp. 155, £1
17S.
6d.
MR.
BROWN,
the former Principal
of
the Uganda Law School, prepared the
substance
of
the work under review for the benefit
of
his pupils at the School.
This to a large extent explains the objects and limitations
of
his book.
The
Primary
emphasis is on the lawin Uganda, though references to the law and
decisions in Kenya are inserted at appropriate places. As for Uganda, the
criminal procedure discussed is primarily that which is to be followed by the
lllagistrates' courts.
The
recent legislation entirely altering the structure and
composition
of
the courts outside Buganda means that anumber
of
the prob-
lems discussed in the case-lawwill probably not arise in the future. Mr. Brown
appears to have made a very successful attempt to incorporate the effect
of
the latest Uganda legislation on the courts; but obviously some
of
the diffi-
culties and problems
of
interpretation which will arise are not yet apparent.
The
fact that development in the courts and procedure in Kenya has not
kept pace with that in Uganda, and that a separate procedure for Buganda
COUrts
remains in being, complicates the task
of
anyone who seeks to expound
the law asit applies to the different kinds of courts.
Anumber
of
interesting points are raised and dealt with in the course
of
Mr. Brown's commentary on the Criminal Procedure Code: for instance, the
problem
of
translation.
It
is notorious that in many courts in East Africa the
S!andard
of
interpretation is low. Not only is it a problem
of
ensuring transla-
tIon into and out
of
English,
but
also there may be the need for interpretation
from one African language into another.
The
problem is especially acute in
the magistrates' courts, where guilt or innocence depends on the view that
the magistrate takes of the evidence presented to him, and where it is likely
that whatever interpretation is available will be inferior in standard to that
aVailable
in the High Court.
Mr. Brown has specifically avoided any detailed criticism
of
the Criminal
Procedure Code. Nevertheless a number of weaknesses in the Code emerge
from his exposition
of
it. When one considers the modest length and limited
objectives
of
the work under review, one must commend the author for sup-
plying us with so much original and relatively inaccessible material on such
~
variety
of
points.
The
reference to the case-law is particularly useful as
Illustrating the operation
of
the Code in practice. Mr. Brown is to be con-
gratulated on the production
of
a work which is sure to be greatly relied on
by those for whom it is primarily intended, the magistrates
of
East Africa.
A. N.
ALLOTT.
'the Principles
of
Native Administration in Nigeria, Selected Docu-
ments 1900-1947, edited and introduced by A. H. M.
KIRK-GREENE.
Oxford
University Press; pp. 248; 25s. cloth, 16s. paper.
The
wind
of
change still blows but the obscuring dust has settled over a great
Part
of
Africa.
'The
new African intellectual
....
is going to insist on exam-
135
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