An Act to provide for the establishment, constitution and jurisdiction of, and the practice and procedure before magistrates courts and for related matters.

Magistrates Courts Act

The Magistrates Courts Act, Cap 19 establishes magistrates' courts across Uganda, sets out the ranks and powers of chief magistrates and magistrates, and governs how these courts handle criminal cases and civil suits. It applies to anyone who appears before such a court—as an accused person, complainant, witness, surety, or party to a civil dispute. The Act also covers court locations, bail, bonds, trials, sentencing, appeals, and enforcement of court orders.<h3>Constitution, Jurisdiction and Location of Magistrates' Courts</h3>The Chief Justice designates magisterial areas and magistrates' courts, on the advice of the Judiciary Council and by statutory instrument. The Chief Justice appoints magistrates of two ranks—chief magistrate and magistrate—and may assign a magistrate to any magisterial area. A single magistrate lawfully empowered may form a valid court. Courts normally sit in a building assigned by the Chief Justice, but may sit elsewhere within local limits, or outside them with written authorisation. Magistrate's courts apply High Court rules and procedure unless a specific written law provides otherwise.In civil matters, a magistrate's court may apply civil customary law if it is fair and not contrary to written law, and must decide based on justice, equity and good conscience where no written rule exists. The court must apply law and equity together, with equity prevailing where they conflict.<h3>Security Bonds for Peace and Good Behaviour</h3>A chief magistrate or magistrate grade I can require a person to show cause why they should not sign a bond to keep the peace or be of good behaviour. This applies where there is information of likely breach of the peace, vagrancy with intent to commit an offence, or habitual criminal behaviour. The bond period cannot exceed one year for peace, or three years for good behaviour in habitual offender cases. The magistrate must issue a written order stating the grounds, bond amount, duration, and required sureties. If you are present, the order must be read or explained to you; if absent, you will be summoned or arrested, and a copy of the order must accompany the summons or warrant.After inquiry, if the court finds the bond is necessary, it will order you to sign a bond, with or without sureties, not exceeding the amount or period in the original order. A minor signs only sureties. If you fail to provide security, you may be imprisoned until the period ends or security is given, but not longer than three years. You can appeal a bond or forfeiture order to the High Court.<h3>Criminal Jurisdiction and Place of Trial</h3>A magistrate's court can summon any person found within its local area charged with an offence committed in Uganda, but can only try the case within its legal powers. The ordinary place of trial is the court covering where the offence occurred. You may also be tried where a consequence of your act occurred, or where a related offence happened. For offences on journeys, any court through whose area the offender, victim, or relevant thing passed has jurisdiction. If the place is uncertain, a court with jurisdiction over any possible area may try the case. The High Court decides disputes over which court should try an offence.<h3>Starting Criminal Proceedings, Summons and Warrants</h3>Criminal proceedings can be started by a police officer bringing an arrested person, by a public prosecutor or police officer laying a charge, or by a private person making a complaint. A private complaint must be made to a magistrate with jurisdiction, and the magistrate must consult the local chief unless a letter from the chief supports it. The court will draw a formal charge and issue a summons or warrant of arrest.A summons must be in writing, signed and sealed, and state the time, place and offence. It may be served personally, left with an adult family member or employer, posted on the house if service cannot otherwise be effected, or sent by registered post to a company. A warrant may be issued before or after a summons, and may include a direction permitting release on a bond for non-capital offences. Warrants may be executed anywhere in Uganda. If arrested outside the issuing court's area, you are normally taken before a local magistrate who then sends you to the issuing court, unless distance or bail provisions apply.<h3>Search and Seizure</h3>Police may search the premises of an arrested person or a person named in an arrest warrant when they reasonably believe evidence is there. A magistrate's court can issue a search warrant on sworn evidence that an item is in a specified place. Search warrants may be executed on Sundays and usually between sunrise and sunset, unless the court authorises otherwise. Persons in charge must allow entry, and seizure and detention of property are governed by the Act. The court may order seized property returned, retained, or otherwise dealt with.<h3>Bail and Remand</h3>If you are charged with an offence, you may be released on bail at any stage, unless the offence is on the excluded list—such as offences triable only by the High Court, terrorism, cattle rustling, aggravated defilement, rape, certain corruption and firearms offences. A lower court's refusal of bail in a non-excluded case can be reviewed by a chief magistrate or the High Court. The High Court may grant bail even for excluded offences.You have the right to bail after 180 days in pre-trial remand for a death-penalty offence, or 60 days for any other offence, unless you were committed to the High Court before the deadline or the magistrate finds continued custody necessary for public protection. Bail considerations include seriousness, punishment, past conduct, local ties, and risk to witnesses. If bail is refused, the court must give written reasons and tell you about further applications. Sureties may be discharged by applying to a magistrate, and a surety's death releases the estate. A recognisance may be forfeited if conditions are broken, leading to payment or imprisonment.<h3>Criminal Charges, Joinder and Double Jeopardy</h3>A charge must state the specific offence and enough particulars to give reasonable information. Multiple counts may be joined in one charge if they arise from the same facts or form a series of similar offences. Accused persons may be joined and tried together in specified circumstances, such as same transaction or related property offences.You have the right not to be tried twice for the same offence after a competent court has convicted or acquitted you, while that decision stands. However, you may be tried later for a different offence arising from the same acts if the court lacked competence for it, or if new consequences appear. Previous convictions or acquittals can be proved by certified copies, prison certificates, or fingerprint evidence.<h3>Witnesses and Evidence</h3>The court can summon witnesses and require production of documents or things. A witness who fails to attend without lawful excuse may be fined up to 20 currency points (UGX 400,000) or imprisoned as a civil prisoner for 15 days, subject to High Court review. Witnesses must give evidence on oath or affirmation; a child who does not understand an oath may give unsworn evidence but a conviction cannot rest solely on it unless other material evidence links the accused. Reports by Government analysts, ballistics experts, and geologists may be used in evidence. If an accused absconds, the court may take evidence in their absence for later use. The accused has the right to testify in their own defence but cannot be compelled, and the prosecution cannot comment on a decision not to testify. An accused who is the only defence witness must be called immediately after the prosecution closes.<h3>Mental Health and Fitness to Stand Trial</h3>If the court has reason to think you are mentally ill and cannot defend yourself, it must stop the case and inquire. If found incapable, you may be released on bail with conditions for care, or held in safe custody, and the matter is reported to the Minister who may order confinement as a criminal lunatic. If a medical officer later certifies you are capable, the Director of Public Prosecutions decides whether to continue. The defence of insanity may be raised at trial; if successful, the court finds you not guilty by reason of insanity and orders custody, with periodic reports to the Minister. A person who is not insane but cannot understand proceedings is still subject to the process, and the Minister may order detention or release.<h3>Trial Procedure and Decisions</h3>At the hearing, the accused must be told the substance of the charge and asked to plead. A guilty plea may lead to conviction and sentence; a not guilty plea leads to trial. The court may proceed in the accused's absence only if the accused consents or is removed for disruptive behaviour. Trial must generally continue day to day, with adjournments limited: no more than 30 days if the accused is not in custody, and 15 days if detained.The prosecution presents evidence first. If no case is made out, you are acquitted. Otherwise, you are called to defend, either on oath, by unsworn statement, or by calling witnesses. The court may amend a charge if no injustice results, and you have rights to recall witnesses and adjourn. After hearing all evidence, the court decides conviction or acquittal. Judgment must be written, dated, signed, and read in open court, with reasons and the offence and law specified. You have the right to be defended by an advocate. Several alternative convictions are allowed, such as convicting for a lesser offence or attempt when the full offence is not proved.<h3>Sentencing and Penalties</h3>A chief magistrate may handle any criminal case except those where the maximum punishment is death; a magistrate grade I may handle any case except death or life imprisonment. A chief magistrate may pass any lawful sentence; a magistrate grade I may impose up to 10 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 500 currency points (UGX 10,000,000), or both. Magistrates' courts cannot try the robbery offence under section 267(2) of the Penal Code Act.Upon conviction, the court may impose a fine, imprisonment, or both, and may make any order authorised by law. When a fine is imposed, the court must consider the offender's means and may allow at least 30 days to pay, or instalments, or deductions from salary/wages (no more than half of monthly earnings). Failure to pay a fine can lead to imprisonment in default, but no more than 12 months, subject to a statutory scale. The court may also order compensation to a victim, payment of costs, restitution of stolen property, and forfeiture or disposal of property linked to an offence. A convicted person may be placed under police supervision for up to five years for robbery or other offences declared by the Minister.<h3>Civil Suits, Res Judicata and Transfers</h3>You may bring a civil suit in a magistrate's court unless barred by law. Suits must be filed in the lowest grade court competent to hear the matter. A suit concerning land or movable property under seizure is generally filed where the property is located. Other civil suits may be filed where the defendant lives or carries on business, or where the cause of action arose. The principle of res judicata bars retrying matters already finally decided between the same parties. Pending prior cases also require a stay. The High Court and Chief Magistrates Court may transfer cases between courts when necessary.<h3>Appeals and Supervisory Powers</h3>You may appeal to the High Court against a conviction by a magistrate's court, on facts, law, or both. If you pleaded guilty, appeal is limited to the lawfulness of the plea or sentence. The Director of Public Prosecutions may appeal an acquittal. Civil appeals from magistrate's courts also go to the High Court, with leave required for second appeals. A chief magistrate has supervisory powers over lower courts and may call for records to check legality. The High Court may also revise orders and transfer cases.Bail may be granted pending appeal. The High Court may reserve a question of law for its opinion. A magistrate's court may refer a legal question to the High Court during a trial, and must do so if the Director of Public Prosecutions requests.<h3>Prosecutors and Miscellaneous Powers</h3>The Director of Public Prosecutions appoints public prosecutors and controls private prosecutions, including taking over or stopping them. Public prosecutors may appear without written authority. Bank managers must provide documents to the Director or authorised police officers during investigations. The Chief Justice may make rules for magistrates' courts, and the Minister responsible for finance may amend Schedule 1 on currency points with Cabinet approval. Court seals and sealed documents are admissible as evidence without further proof.This Act overrides the Criminal Procedure Code Act and Civil Procedure Act for magistrate's courts where they conflict, but those Acts still apply to matters not covered here. The Act also transfers appeals under older laws to the appropriate court under this Act.This overview is for general education only. It is based on the section summaries provided and is not a substitute for the authoritative text of the Magistrates Courts Act, Cap 19, or current statutory instruments. If you need legal advice on a specific situation, consult a qualified lawyer or the relevant court.

When reading this Act, defined terms carry fixed meanings. Civil customary law is custom-based rules for legal relationships that are not common law or enacted law. A currency point has the value set in Schedule 1; magisterial areas are zones set under section 2; and a magistrate's court is one established under section 3. The Minister means the Minister responsible for justice. For written laws already in force when this Act took effect, a reference to a subordinate court must be read as a reference to a magistrate's court, and a reference to a resident magistrate must be read as a reference to a chief magistrate.

Defines civil customary law, currency point, magisterial area, magistrate's court and Minister, and reinterprets references in other written laws.

Section 1: Interpretation of the Magistrates Courts Act

“civil customary law” means the rules of conduct which govern legal relationships as established by custom and usage and not forming part of the common law nor formally enacted by Parliament;

“currency point” has the value assigned to it in Schedule 1 to this Act;

“magisterial area” means any one of the areas into which Uganda is for the time being divided under section 2;

“magistrate’s court” means any court established by or under section 3;

“Minister” means the Minister responsible for justice.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

a subordinate court, the reference shall be construed as a reference to a magistrate’s court;

a resident magistrate, the reference shall be construed as a reference to a chief magistrate.

Subject to this Act, where in any written law in force on the date of the coming into force of this Act reference is made to—

Interpretation

The Chief Justice may designate magisterial areas and magistrates courts for the purposes of this Act. The power must be exercised on the advice of the Judiciary Council and by statutory instrument. These designations determine the locations and boundaries of magistrates courts. Court users should ascertain the current statutory instruments to know which magisterial area applies.

The Chief Justice may designate magisterial areas and magistrates courts under this Act by statutory instrument, acting on the advice of the Judiciary Council.

Section 2: Power to designate magisterial areas and courts

The Chief Justice may, acting on the advice of the Judiciary Council and by statutory instrument, designate magisterial areas and magistrates courts for the purposes of this Act.

Magisterial areas

The provision contained in Section 3 of the Magistrates Courts Act (Cap. 19) of Uganda is shown; it is part of the law regulating magistrates' courts.

Section 3: Magistrates Courts Act (Cap. 19)

....

The Chief Justice decides the number of magistrates to appoint and the rank of each one, but only after consulting the Judiciary Council and following the approved structure of the Judiciary. There are two ranks of magistrate: chief magistrate and magistrate. A chief magistrate or magistrate may exercise only the powers and jurisdiction granted by this Act or any other written law.

Chief Justice, consulting the Judiciary Council, appoints magistrates; ranks are chief magistrate and magistrate; powers from this Act and other written law.

Section 4: Appointment of Chief Magistrates and Magistrates

There shall be appointed such number of magistrates of such rank as the Chief Justice shall, in consultation with the Judiciary Council and in accordance with the approved structure of the Judiciary, determine.

Magistrates shall be of the following ranks—

The power and jurisdiction of a chief magistrate or magistrate shall be the powers and jurisdiction vested in the chief magistrate or magistrate under this Act and any other written law.

Appointment of magistrates

Any one magistrate who has the legal power to hear cases in that court may preside alone and form a valid magistrate's court. The court does not need more than one magistrate to be properly constituted. Provided the presiding magistrate is lawfully empowered, all proceedings before that court are given effect as a duly constituted court.

A magistrate's court is deemed to be duly constituted when presided over by any one magistrate lawfully empowered to adjudicate in the court.

Section 5: Constitution of the courts

A magistrate’s court shall be deemed to be duly constituted when presided over by any one magistrate lawfully empowered to adjudicate in the court.

Constitution of courts

A magistrate must be aware that their appointment under this Act gives them jurisdiction in every magisterial area. Their authority is not limited to one location unless assigned. The Chief Justice may assign a magistrate to any particular magisterial area or to part of one. Magistrates are therefore subject to deployment across Uganda according to the Chief Justice's direction.

Every magistrate appointed under this Act has jurisdiction in every magisterial area, but the Chief Justice may assign any of them to a particular area or part.

Section 6: Assignment of magistrates by Chief Justice

Every magistrate appointed under this Act shall be deemed to have been appointed to, and have jurisdiction in, each and every magisterial area but may be assigned to any particular magisterial area or to a part of any magisterial area by the Chief Justice.

Assignment of magistrates

A magistrate's court is normally held in a building assigned by the Chief Justice as the courthouse. It may also sit at any place within the local limits of its jurisdiction. If the Chief Justice thinks the interests of justice require it, the court may sit outside those limits with written authorisation. Proceedings are valid even if the court sits in a building or place within the local limits that is not the designated courthouse.

A magistrate's court may sit within local limits, or outside with the Chief Justice's written authorisation; proceedings are valid if held within local limits.

Section 7: Where a magistrate's court may sit

may be held at any place within the local limits of its jurisdiction; or

if it appears to the Chief Justice that the interests of justice so require, may be held, with the written authorisation of the Chief Justice, at a place outside the local limits of its jurisdiction designated in the authorisation,

and shall be held in such building as the Chief Justice may assign as the courthouse.

Notwithstanding subsection (1), if a magistrate’s court sits in any building or place within the local limits of its jurisdiction for the transaction of legal business, the proceedings shall be as valid in every respect as if they had been held in a courthouse assigned for that purpose.

Place of sitting

The input for Section 8 of the Magistrates Courts Act (Cap 19) has no statutory text. Without the exact words of the provision, no right, duty, procedure, or penalty can be verified. Therefore, no plain-English legal instruction can be accurately produced from the supplied material. Any attempt to summarise the section would risk adding facts not present in the input.

Section 8 of the Magistrates Courts Act (Cap 19) is referenced, but its complete statutory text is not supplied in the input for verification.

Section 8: Magistrates Courts Act Cap 19 Content Not Supplied

Magistrates courts must apply the same legal rules and procedures as the High Court when exercising their jurisdiction, as required by the Judicature Act. However, that general obligation is subject to the Magistrates Courts Act and to any other written law that restricts or otherwise governs the jurisdiction of the particular court or its presiding magistrate. So, if a specific written law gives a magistrate court different powers or limits them, that specific law takes precedence. In practice, this means the ordinary standard is High Court practice, but it can be modified for magistrate courts by written law.

Magistrates courts must exercise jurisdiction using the same law as the High Court under the Judicature Act, unless other written law provides differently.

Section 9: How general jurisdiction exercised

The jurisdiction of a magistrate’s court shall, subject to this Act and any other written law limiting or otherwise relating to the jurisdiction of that court or of the presiding magistrate, be exercised in conformity with the law with which the High Court is required to conform in exercising its jurisdiction by the Judicature Act.

How general jurisdiction exercised

You have the right to rely on civil customary law in cases before a magistrate's court, provided that law is fair and does not contradict any written law in force. A magistrate's court is not prevented by this Act from applying such customary law to civil matters. You cannot invoke customary law if you have expressly or implicitly agreed that another law entirely governs the transaction. When there is no specific written rule to settle a civil dispute, the court will decide based on principles of justice, equity and good conscience.

Magistrate courts may apply civil customary law that is not repugnant to justice, equity, good conscience or written law, unless parties agreed another law.

Section 10: Civil customary law and its application

Subject to this section, nothing in this Act shall deprive a magistrate’s court of the right to observe and to enforce the observance of, or shall deprive any person of the benefit of, any civil customary law which may be applicable that is not repugnant to justice, equity or good conscience or incompatible either in terms or by necessary implication with any written law for the time being in force.

Notwithstanding subsection (1), no party to a civil cause or matter shall be entitled to claim the benefit of any civil customary law if it appears, either from express contract or from the nature of the transactions out of which any civil cause or matter shall have arisen, that he or she agreed or must be taken to have agreed that his or her obligations in connection with all such transactions should be regulated exclusively by some law other than civil customary law.

In civil causes or matters where no express rule is applicable to any matter in issue, a magistrate’s court shall be guided by the principles of justice, equity and good conscience.

Civil customary law and its application

A magistrate's court must apply both law and equity together in every civil matter. It may award any remedy or relief, whether temporary or permanent, that a party is entitled to under legal or equitable claims or defences that are properly presented or appear in the case. This lets the court fully resolve the entire dispute in one go, avoiding a chain of legal proceedings. Where the rules of equity and common law disagree, equity wins.

Magistrates' courts apply law and equity together in civil cases, may grant remedies for legal or equitable claims, and equity prevails on conflict.

Section 11: Law and Equity in Magistrates' Civil Proceedings

In every civil cause or matter before a magistrate’s court, law and equity shall be administered concurrently.

A magistrate may, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred upon him or her by this or any other enactment, grant absolutely or on such reasonable terms or conditions as seem just, any remedy or relief, whether interlocutory or final, to which any of the parties to the cause or matter may be entitled in respect of any legal or equitable claim or defence properly brought forward or which appears in such cause or matter, so that as far as possible all matters in dispute between the parties may be completed and finally decided and all multiplicity of legal proceedings concerning such matters avoided.

If in any cause or matter there is a conflict or variance between the rules of equity and the rules of common law with reference to the same subject, the rules of equity shall prevail.

Law and equity

You may be required to appear before a chief magistrate or magistrate grade I to explain why you should not be ordered to sign a bond (with or without sureties) to keep the peace for up to one year if someone informs that magistrate that you are likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb public tranquillity. Such proceedings are only allowed if either you or the place where the feared disturbance is expected is within that magistrate's local jurisdiction. A magistrate who lacks the required authority but believes you are likely to cause such a disturbance and that only detaining you can prevent it may, after writing down reasons, issue a warrant for your arrest if you are not already in custody or before court, and send you to an authorised magistrate with a copy of those reasons. Upon receiving you, the authorised magistrate may keep you in custody until the prescribed inquiry is completed.

A chief magistrate or magistrate grade I may order a person likely to breach the peace to show why he or she should not execute a peace bond for up to one year.

Section 12: Security for keeping the peace

Whenever a chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I is informed that any person is likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity, or to do any wrongful act that may probably occasion a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity, the magistrate may, in the manner hereafter provided, require that person to show cause why he or she should not be ordered to execute a bond, with or without sureties, for keeping the peace for such period, not exceeding one year, as the magistrate thinks fit to fix.

Proceedings shall not be taken under this section unless either the person informed against, or the place where the breach of the peace or the disturbance is apprehended, is within the local limits of that magistrate’s jurisdiction.

When any magistrate not empowered to proceed under subsection (1) has reason to believe that any person is likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity, or to do any wrongful act that may probably occasion a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity, and that such breach of the peace or disturbance cannot be prevented otherwise than by detaining that person in custody, that magistrate may, after recording his or her reasons, issue a warrant for the person’s arrest, if he or she is not already in custody or before the court, and may send the person before a magistrate empowered to deal with the case, with a copy of the magistrate’s reasons.

A magistrate before whom a person is sent under this section may, in his or her discretion, detain the person in custody until the completion of the inquiry hereafter prescribed.

Security for keeping the peace

A chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I can require a person to show why they should not be ordered to give security for good behaviour if the magistrate has information that the person is within their area and is consistently spreading material likely to endanger peace and order in Uganda. The same power applies if the person spreads material about a judge that amounts to libel under the Penal Code Act. The conduct can have happened inside or outside the magistrate's jurisdiction, and can be done orally, in writing, or in any other way. The security can be a bond, with or without sureties, and lasts for a period fixed by the magistrate, up to one year. Before making the order, the magistrate must give the person a chance to show cause.

A chief or grade I magistrate may require security for good behaviour for up to one year from a person spreading dangerous matter or libelling a judge.

Section 13: Security bonds for dangerous matter or libel

consistently disseminates or consistently attempts to disseminate or in any manner consistently abets the dissemination of any matter which is likely in the opinion of the magistrate to be dangerous to peace and order within Uganda; or

disseminates or attempts to disseminate or in any manner abets the dissemination of any matter concerning a judge which amounts to libel under the Penal Code Act,

the magistrate may require that person to show cause why he or she should not be ordered to execute a bond, with or without sureties, for his or her good behaviour for such period, not exceeding one year, as the magistrate thinks fit to fix.

Whenever a chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I has information that there is within the limits of his or her jurisdiction any person who, within or without those limits, either orally or in writing or in any other manner—

Security for good behaviour from persons disseminating any matter which is dangerous to peace and other matters

A chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I may act when they get information about a person. The information may show that the person is hiding within the magistrate's jurisdiction with intent to commit an offence. It may also show that the person has no visible means of support and cannot give a satisfactory account of themselves. In such cases, the magistrate can order the person to show cause why they should not be required to provide a bond with sureties. The bond must be for good behaviour for a period not exceeding one year, as fixed by the magistrate.

A chief magistrate or grade I magistrate may require a vagrant or suspected person to show cause for a bond with sureties for good behaviour up to one year.

Section 14: Good behaviour bonds for vagrants and suspects

that any person is taking precautions to conceal his or her presence within the local limits of the magistrate’s jurisdiction, and that there is reason to believe that the person is taking those precautions with a view to committing any offence; or

that there is within those limits a person who has no ostensible means of subsistence, or who cannot give a satisfactory account of himself or herself,

the magistrate may require that person to show cause why he or she should not be ordered to execute a bond, with sureties, for his or her good behaviour for such period, not exceeding one year, as the magistrate thinks fit to fix.

Whenever a chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I receives information—

Security for good behaviour from vagrants and suspected persons

A chief magistrate or grade I magistrate may require a person to show cause after receiving information that the person habitually engages in certain criminal behaviour. Such behaviour includes habitual robbery, housebreaking, theft, receiving stolen goods, protecting thieves, committing or abetting offences such as breaches of the peace, or being dangerously desperate. The magistrate may ask the person why they should not be ordered to provide a bond with sureties for good behaviour. The period of the bond is up to three years as the magistrate thinks fit.

Chief magistrates or grade I magistrates may require a habitual offender to show cause why not to execute a good behaviour bond with sureties for up to 3 years.

Section 15: Security for good behaviour from habitual offenders

is by habit a robber, housebreaker or thief;

is by habit a receiver of stolen property, knowing the property to have been stolen;

habitually protects or harbours thieves, or aids in the concealment or disposal of stolen property;

habitually commits or attempts to commit, or aids or abets in the commission of, any offence punishable under Chapter XXVIII, XXXI or XXXIV of the Penal Code Act;

habitually commits or attempts to commit, or aids or abets in the commission of, offences involving a breach of the peace; or

is so desperate and dangerous as to render his or her being at large without security, hazardous to the community,

the magistrate may require that person to show cause why he or she should not be ordered to execute a bond, with sureties, for his or her good behaviour for such period, not exceeding three years, as the magistrate thinks fit to fix.

Whenever a chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I receives information that any person within the local limits of his or her jurisdiction—

Security for good behaviour from habitual offenders

If a magistrate acts under sections 12, 13, 14, or 15 and decides that you must show cause, the magistrate must first issue a written order. The order must explain what information was received against you, set the amount of bond you must pay, state how long the bond lasts, and list any sureties required. This written notice protects you by spelling out the exact grounds and conditions before you are asked to respond.

A written order requiring a person to show cause under sections 12-15 must state the substance of the information received, bond amount, term, and sureties.

Section 16: Order to show cause under sections 12-15

the substance of the information received;

the term for which it is to be in force; and

the number, character and class of sureties, if any, required.

When a magistrate acting under section 12, 13, 14 or 15 deems it necessary to require any person to show cause under such section, the magistrate shall make an order in writing setting forth—

Order to be made

You have the right to be informed of a court order concerning you when you are present in court. The court must read the order over to you. If you prefer, you may ask the court to explain the substance of the order instead. The court must then explain the key content of the order to you. This procedure ensures you know what the order says while you are in court.

If the person affected by a court order is present in court, the order must be read over to the person, or its substance must be explained if the person asks.

Section 17: Procedure When a Person Is Present in Court

If the person in respect of whom that order is made is present in court, it shall be read over to him or her, or, if he or she so desires, the substance of the order shall be explained to him or her.

Procedure in respect of person present in court

When a person is absent from court, the magistrate must issue a summons requiring that person to appear. If the absent person is in custody, the magistrate must instead issue a warrant ordering the officer in charge to produce them in court. The magistrate may also issue an arrest warrant at any time if a police officer's report or other recorded information suggests a breach of the peace is likely. That immediate arrest must be necessary to prevent the breach, and the substance of the report or information must be recorded.

Governs what a magistrate does when a person is not in court: issue summons, warrant to bring, or immediate arrest to prevent a breach of the peace.

Section 18: Summons or warrant in case of person not so present

If that person is not present in court, the magistrate shall issue a summons requiring him or her to appear or, when that person is in custody, a warrant directing the officer in whose custody he or she is to bring him or her before the court.

Notwithstanding subsection (1), whenever it appears to the magistrate, upon the report of a police officer or upon other information (the substance of which report or information shall be recorded by the magistrate), that there is reason to fear the commission of a breach of the peace, and that the breach of the peace cannot be prevented otherwise than by the immediate arrest of that person, the magistrate may at any time issue a warrant for his or her arrest.

Summons or warrant in case of person not so present

You must be given a copy of the court order made under section 16 when a summons is served on you or you are arrested under a warrant. The officer who serves the summons or carries out the arrest must hand over that copy. The copy must accompany the summons or warrant during service or arrest. This rule applies to every summons or warrant issued under section 18.

A summons or warrant issued under section 18 must be accompanied by a copy of the order under section 16, given by the officer to the person served or arrested.

Section 19: Copy of s.16 order to accompany summons or warrant

Every summons or warrant issued under section 18 shall be accompanied by a copy of the order made under section 16, and that copy shall be delivered by the officer serving or executing the summons or warrant to the person served with or arrested under it.

Copy of order under section 16 to accompany summons or warrant

Copy of order under section 16 to accompany summons or warrant

A person called to explain why they should not be ordered to execute a peace bond may be allowed not to attend court in person. The magistrate makes this decision if sufficient cause is shown. When personal attendance is excused, the person can appear through an advocate. This applies only to proceedings about bonds for keeping the peace.

A magistrate may excuse personal attendance of a person called to show cause why a peace bond should not be required, and allow an advocate to appear.

Section 20: Power to dispense with personal attendance

The magistrate may, if he or she sees sufficient cause, dispense with the personal attendance of any person called upon to show cause why he or she should not be ordered to execute a bond for keeping the peace, and may permit the person to appear by an advocate

Power to dispense with personal attendance

A magistrate must investigate the truth of the information after an order is read or explained or when a person appears under a summons or warrant. The magistrate must take further evidence if necessary to establish the truth. This inquiry must be conducted in the same way trials are conducted and evidence recorded before magistrates courts, as far as practicable. The fact that a person is a habitual offender may be proven by general reputation or other evidence. People connected in the same matter may be dealt with together or in separate inquiries, at the magistrate's discretion.

A magistrate must inquire into the truth of information and may take evidence; a person's status as a habitual offender may be proved by general repute.

Section 21: Inquiry as to truth of information

When an order under section 16 has been read or explained under section 17 to a person in court, or when any person appears or is brought before a magistrate in compliance with or in execution of a summons or warrant issued under section 18, the magistrate shall proceed to inquire into the truth of the information upon which the action has been taken, and to take such further evidence as may appear necessary.

The inquiry shall be made, as nearly as may be practicable, in the manner prescribed in this Act for conducting trials and recording evidence in trials before magistrates courts.

For the purposes of this section, the fact that a person is a habitual (fender may be proved by evidence of general repute or otherwise.

Where two or more persons have been associated together in the matter under inquiry, they may be dealt with in the same or separate inquiries as the magistrate thinks just.

Inquiry as to truth of information

A magistrate must order a person to give security by signing a bond, with or without sureties, if an inquiry proves this is necessary to keep the peace or maintain good behaviour. The security ordered cannot be of a different nature, larger amount, or longer period than what was stated in the order made under section 16. The bond amount must be set based on the circumstances of the case and must not be excessive. If the person is a minor, the bond is signed only by the sureties, not by the minor. A person who is ordered to provide security for good behaviour under this section may appeal to the High Court.

Magistrates must order security bonds to preserve peace or good behaviour; bond amount must be reasonable, and orders may be appealed to the High Court.

Section 22: Order to Give Security for Peace or Good Behaviour

If, upon such inquiry, it is proved that it is necessary for keeping the peace or maintaining good behaviour, as the case may be, that the person in respect of whom the inquiry is made should execute a bond, with or without sureties, the magistrate shall make an order accordingly.

No person shall be ordered to give security of a nature different from, or of an amount larger than, or for a period longer than, that specified in the order made under section 16.

The amount of every bond shall be fixed with due regard to the circumstances of the case and shall not be excessive.

When the person in respect of whom the inquiry is made is a minor, the bond shall be executed only by his or her sureties.

A person ordered to give security for good behaviour under this section may appeal to the High Court.

Order to give security

You have the right to be released if you are in custody only for a section 21 inquiry and the inquiry does not prove that you need a bond to keep the peace or maintain good behaviour. The magistrate must record that the bond was not proved necessary. If you are not in custody, the magistrate must discharge you instead of releasing you.

If a section 21 inquiry does not prove a bond is needed to keep the peace or maintain good behaviour, the magistrate must release or discharge the person.

Section 23: Discharge of Person Informed Against

If, on an inquiry under section 21, it is not proved that it is necessary for keeping the peace or maintaining good behaviour, as the case may be, that the person in respect of whom the inquiry is made should execute a bond, the magistrate shall make an entry on the record to that effect, and, if that person is in custody only for the purposes of the inquiry, shall release him or her, or, if that person is not in custody, shall discharge him or her.

Discharge of person informed against

If you are subject to a security order under section 16 or 22 and you are already serving a prison sentence or are being sentenced to prison when the order is made, the security period starts only after that prison sentence ends. In all other cases, the security period begins on the date the order is issued. However, if the magistrate has a strong reason, he or she may choose a later start date for the security period.

Sets when a security period starts: if in prison, after release; otherwise from the order date unless the magistrate fixes a later date for good reason.

Section 24: When the Security Period Commences

If any person in respect of whom an order requiring security is made under section 16 or 22 is, at the time the order is made, sentenced to, or undergoing a sentence of, imprisonment, the period for which the security is required shall commence on the expiration of that sentence.

In other cases the period shall commence on the date of that order unless the magistrate, for sufficient reason, fixes a later date.

Commencement of period for which security is required

When you are required to give a bond, you must obey its condition to keep the peace or be of good behaviour. You break the bond if you commit, attempt, or help someone commit an offence that can be punished with imprisonment, no matter where the offence occurs. You also break the bond if, after being bonded for conduct described in section 13(a) or (b), you further spread or help spread seditious material or anything the court considers dangerous to Uganda's peace and order. A chief magistrate or grade I magistrate who receives information about a breach must summon you and your sureties to appear and open an inquiry in the manner set out in section 21. If the magistrate is satisfied a breach occurred, the bond is forfeited and the principal and sureties are ordered to pay the amounts they were bound for. The magistrate can instead order only part of the amount to be paid or remit it entirely. Any amount ordered is enforced like a fine, and you have the right to appeal the forfeiture order to the High Court.

A bond requires a person to keep the peace or be of good behaviour; certain offences or seditious dissemination can breach it, allowing forfeiture and appeal.

Section 25: Bond contents, and consequences of breach

The bond to be executed by any such person shall bind him or her to keep the peace or to be of good behaviour, as the case may be, and the commission or attempt to commit or the aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of an offence punishable with imprisonment, wherever it may be committed, or in the case where a person has been required to enter into a bond because of the conduct mentioned in section 13(a) or (b), the further dissemination or attempt to disseminate or the abetting of the dissemination of any seditious matter or any matter which is likely, in the opinion of the court, to be dangerous to peace and order within Uganda, shall be a breach of the bond.

Whenever a chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I receives information that any person who has executed a bond under section 22 has committed a breach of that bond, he or she shall, by summons or warrant require that person and his or her sureties, if any, to appear before him or her and shall inquire into the truth of the information upon which the summons or warrant was issued in the same manner as provided in section 21 and if satisfied that there has been a breach of the bond, the chief magistrate or magistrate shall declare the amount of the bond to be forfeited and adjudge the persons bound thereby, whether as principal or sureties or any of them, to pay the sum in which they are respectively bound.

A magistrate who declares the amount of a bond to be forfeited may, instead of adjudging any person to pay the whole sum in which he or she is bound, adjudge that person to pay part only of the sum or may remit the sum.

Payment of any sum adjudged to be paid under this section, including any costs awarded, may be enforced, collected and applied as if it were a fine and as if the adjudication were a conviction.

A person aggrieved by an order declaring any bond to be forfeited may appeal to the High Court.

Contents of bond

A magistrate can reject a surety offered under any of the earlier sections if the surety is an unfit person. The magistrate must write down the reasons for the rejection. A person with a disability cannot be considered unfit just because of the disability. Therefore, you cannot be disqualified from serving as a surety solely because of a disability.

A magistrate may reject an offered surety as unfit with written reasons, but a disability alone cannot make a surety unfit.

Section 26: Power to reject sureties

A magistrate may refuse to accept any surety offered under any of the preceding sections of this Part of this Act on the ground that, for reasons to be recorded by the magistrate, the surety is an unfit person.

For the purposes of subsection (1), a person with a disability shall not on the basis of disability, be taken to be an unfit person.

Power to reject sureties

If a magistrate orders you to give security and you fail to give it by the day the security period starts, you will be committed to prison or kept in prison if already there. This continues until the security period ends or until you give the security to the magistrate who made the order. If the magistrate ordered security for more than one year and you do not give it, the magistrate must issue a warrant detaining you in prison and send the case to the High Court. The High Court may review the proceedings, ask for more information or evidence, and make any order it thinks fit. No imprisonment for failing to give security may last longer than three years. If you give the security to the prison officer in charge, that officer must immediately refer the matter to the magistrate and wait for the magistrate's orders.

A person ordered to give security who fails to do so is imprisoned or detained until the security is given or the period expires, but not beyond three years.

Section 27: Procedure on failure of person to give security

If any person ordered to give security as aforesaid does not give that security on or before the date on which the period for which that security is to be given commences, he or she shall, except in the case mentioned in subsection (2), be committed to prison, or, if he or she is already in prison, be detained in prison until that period expires or until within that period he or she gives the security to the magistrate who made the order requiring it.

When such person has been ordered by a magistrate to give security for a period exceeding one year, the magistrate shall, if that person does not give such security as aforesaid, issue a warrant directing him or her to be detained in prison pending the order of the High Court, and the proceedings shall be laid as soon as conveniently may be before that court.

The High Court, after examining such proceedings and requiring from the magistrate any further information or evidence which it thinks necessary, may make such order in the case as it thinks fit.

The period, if any, for which any person is imprisoned for failure to give security shall not exceed three years.

If the security is tendered to the officer in charge of the prison, the officer shall forthwith refer the matter to the magistrate who made the order and shall await the orders of that magistrate.

Procedure on failure of person to give security

A chief magistrate or magistrate grade I may order the discharge of a person held in prison for failing to provide security. This power exists only when the magistrate forms the opinion that the release would not create a hazard to the community. The decision is entirely discretionary; the magistrate may release the prisoner if he or she considers it appropriate. No other judicial officer is authorised by this provision to grant such a discharge.

A chief magistrate or magistrate grade I may order the discharge of a person imprisoned for failing to give security if release is safe for the community.

Section 28: Release of persons held for lack of security

Whenever a chief magistrate or magistrate grade I is of the opinion that any person imprisoned for failing to give security may be released without hazard to the community, the magistrate may, if he or she thinks fit, order that person to be discharged.

Power to release persons imprisoned for failure to give security

The High Court can cancel any bond for keeping the peace or for good behaviour that was created under an earlier section of this Act by any court. The cancellation may take place at any time. The court must have sufficient reasons, and it must write those reasons down. This means the High Court has the final power to remove the requirement of a bond in appropriate cases.

The High Court may cancel any bond for keeping the peace or good behaviour executed under preceding sections if sufficient reasons are recorded in writing.

Section 29: Power of High Court to cancel bond

The High Court may, at any time, for sufficient reasons to be recorded in writing, cancel any bond for keeping the peace or for good behaviour executed under any of the preceding sections by order of any court.

Power of High Court to cancel bond

A surety for keeping the peace or good behaviour of another person may apply at any time to a chief magistrate or a magistrate grade I to cancel the bond, within the magistrate's local jurisdiction. The magistrate must then issue a summons or warrant to bring the person before the court. Once the person appears or is brought, the magistrate must cancel the bond. The magistrate must also order the person to give new security of the same kind for the remaining period of the bond. For sections 25, 26, 27 and 28, this order is treated as an order made under section 22.

On a surety's application, a chief magistrate or magistrate grade I must cancel a peace or good behaviour bond and order fresh security for the balance.

Magistrates Courts Act

1.Interpretation

2.Magisterial areas

3.....

4.Appointment of magistrates

5.Constitution of courts