Key Benefits:
(1) The High Court shall consist of the Chief Justice and such number of judges of the Court which shall not exceed a maximum number of 30 judges.
(2) Subject to subsection (1), the President may, in accordance with the provisions of section 96 (2) of the Constitution, appoint such number of judges for the Court as he may consider necessary to appoint.
The Chief Justice shall be the senior judge of the Court and the other judges of the Court shall take precedence after him according to the priority of their respective appointments as such.
(1) The Court shall have and use as occasion may require a seal bearing the device and impression of the arms of Botswana surrounded by the legend "The High Court of Botswana".
(2) The seal shall be kept in the custody of the Registrar.
6. Proceedings of Court to be disposed of by single judge
Except as otherwise provided by this Act or any other written law, every proceeding in the Court and all business arising thereout shall be heard and disposed of by or before a single judge or such number of judges as may be determined by the Chief Justice.
(1) In any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, the judge presiding may summon to the assistance of the Court two or more persons to sit and act as assessors in an advisory capacity.
(2) It shall be the duty of the assessors to give, either in open court, or otherwise, such assistance and advice as the judge presiding may require, but the decision shall be vested exclusively in the judge.
(3) The agreement or disagreement of an assessor with the decision of the judge may be noted on the record, but if such agreement or disagreement is not noted it shall be presumed that the assessor agreed with the decision of the judge.
8. Language to be employed in Court
(1) The language to be employed in the Court shall be English and the evidence, pleadings and all the records of proceedings in the Court shall be in that language.
(2) If any of the parties or witnesses in proceedings before the Court do not understand the English language, then the proceedings shall be interpreted from English into the language understood by the parties or the witnesses concerned, as the case may be, and vice versa:
Provided that in civil proceedings the parties may be called upon to bear part or the whole of the costs of such interpretation if the language understood by the parties or witnesses is not one of the languages commonly spoken in Botswana.
9. Proceedings to be open to the public
(1) Except with the agreement of all parties thereto, the proceedings of the Court, including the announcement of the decision of the Court, shall be held in public.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall prevent the judge presiding from excluding from any proceedings persons other than the parties thereto and their legal representatives, to such extent as he may consider necessary or expedient-
(a) in circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interest of justice;
(b) in interlocutory proceedings; or
(c) in the interests of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, the welfare of persons under the age of 18 years or the protection of the private lives of persons concerned in the proceedings.
(3) If any person in or in the precincts of the Court conducts himself in such a manner as is capable of disturbing the peace or order of the Court, the judge presiding may order that such person be removed or detained in custody until the final rising of the Court for the day, or, if in the opinion of the judge peace or order cannot otherwise be secured, may order that the public gallery be cleared and the doors thereof closed to the public.
10. Appellate jurisdiction of Court
(1) The Court shall have appellate jurisdiction from any decision of a magistrate's court and customary courts of appeal in Botswana and shall have power to-
(a) confirm, amend or set aside any judgment, decision or order, civil or criminal, of any magistrate's court or a customary court of appeal;
(b) order a new trial of any cause heard or decided in any magistrate's court or a customary court of appeal, or to direct that such new trial shall be heard in the Court;
(c) receive further evidence or to remit the case to the court of first instance for further hearing, with such instructions as to further proceedings as the Court may deem necessary;
(d) impose such punishment, whether more or less severe than, or of a different nature from, the punishment imposed by the court of first instance, as in the opinion of the Court ought to have been imposed by that court:
Provided that notwithstanding that the Court is of the opinion that any point raised might be decided in favour of the accused, no conviction or sentence shall be set aside or altered by reason of any irregularity or defect in the record or proceedings unless it appears to the Court that a failure of justice has in fact resulted therefrom.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), the right of the Director of Public Prosecutions or, in the case of a private prosecution, the private prosecutor to appeal shall be restricted to an appeal on a matter of law against a finding or acquittal.
(1) An appeal shall lie to the Court from a magistrate's court or a customary court of appeal in the following cases-
(a) from all final judgments;
(b) with leave of the Court, from all interlocutory judgments and orders given or made in the course of any civil action or matter:
Provided that no appeal shall lie, except with leave of the Court or of the magistrate's court, from an order made ex parte, or by consent, or as to costs only.
(2) Appeals from magistrate's courts or from customary courts of appeal shall be heard by one judge, except where in any particular case the Chief Justice directs that an appeal shall be heard by two or more judges.
(3) Subject to subsection (4), the Court shall not entertain any appeal unless the appellant has fulfilled all the conditions of appeal imposed by the Court or by the magistrate's court or by customary court of appeal or by any rules of court.
(4) Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore in this section contained, the Court may entertain any appeal from a magistrate's court or a customary court of appeal on any terms which it considers just.
In a civil appeal the Court shall have power to-
(a) dismiss the appeal;
(b) reverse a judgment made upon a preliminary point and, on such reversal, remit the case to the magistrate's court or the customary court with directions to proceed to determine the case on its merits;
(c) resettle issues and finally determine a case, notwithstanding that the judgment of the magistrate's court or the customary court has proceeded wholly on some ground other than that on which the Court proceeds;
(d) call additional evidence or direct the magistrate's court or customary court or any magistrate's court or customary court to take additional evidence;
(e) make any amendment or any consequential or additional order that may be just and proper;
(f) confirm, reverse or vary a judgment;
(g) order that a judgment be set aside and a new trial held;
(h) make such order as to costs both in the Court and in the magistrate's court or the customary court as may be just and proper.
13. Appeal not to act as stay of execution
In civil matters, an appeal shall not operate as a stay of execution or of proceedings under a judgment unless the Court or the magistrate's court or customary court so orders, and no intermediate act or proceeding shall be invalidated, except insofar as the Court directs.
14. Magistrate's court to conform with order of Court
In civil appeals, a magistrate's court or customary court shall conform with and execute such judgment or order as shall be issued, made or pronounced therein by the Court in like manner as if it were an original judgment or order issued, made or pronounced therein by the magistrate's court or customary court.
