EXERCISE TO DIGITALIZE COURT JUDGMENTS, RULING TAKES OFF

By JUDICIARY REPORTER-Dar es Salaam

The Judiciary of Tanzania has started an exercise of scanning court decisions (judgments and rulings) delivered in previous years starting from 2018 back to 1980, in a move aimed at digitalizing all old documents as per directives given by the Chief Justice, His Lordship, Prof. Ibrahim Hamis Juma.

 

Scanning of the judgments and rulings of the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Tanzania will help to save them digitally and also enable such decisions uploaded in the system that publishes decisions online (TanzLII) and later on migrating to electronic library.

 

The Registrar of the Court of Appeal of Tanzania, Hon. George Herbert, recently visited the Judiciary Library in Dar es Salaam and witnessed such ongoing exercise.

 

The exercise is based on a project to upload decisions of previous years, which is the result of the stakeholders meeting held on July 13 and 14, 2023 in the Capital City of Dodoma. 

 

Such stakeholders included the Attorney General's Chambers, the Government Printer, the Law Reform Commission, the Tanzania Judiciary Library Representative, AfricanLII and GIZ, a German company.

 

The meeting involved collaboration on the free access to court decisions and laws online and enabled the digitalization exercise to take off.

 

Speaking at the Library, the Registrar of the Court of Appeal said that the ongoing exercise will help increase the speed of legal research and access to references of Court decisions previously delivered.

 

Hon. Herbert explained that the exercise will also help speed up the provision of timely and quick justice due to availability of research materials easily obtained through the TanzLII System.

 

"This exercise is good and very basic because old decisions are hard to find. The move to publicize these decisions is a good and productive thing for the Judiciary and society in general... 

 

"These decisions will last for a long time as they are now digital, so their access will be easy. The Judiciary of Tanzania encourages having soft documents rather than hard materials," he said.

 

The Personal Assistant to the Chief Justice, Hon. Venance Mlingi, speaking when witnessing the exercise, said that the decision to scan judgments is a better thing, as it will help to facilitate easy research and help Judges and Magistrates to deliver justice on time. 

 

He also said that those decisions are valuable, so if they remain in hard copies, they are easy to be damaged and cause difficulties in research. Hon. Mlingi noted that the exercise of scanning those decisions will make them last longer and be easily accessible.

 

Director of Library Services of Judiciary of Tanzania, who is also Deputy Registrar of the High Court of Tanzania, Hon. Kifungu Mrisho Kariho, said that the scanning of those decisions will help legal studies, easy reference and help easy dispensation of justice.

 

In addition, Hon. Kariho explained that for Judicial Officers and parties to cases to get old decisions digitally will help the improvement of legal principles and the construction of good arguments in pursuing justice.

 

In the exercise, 5,424 old decisions of the High Court of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam Zone from 1980 to 2018 have already been scanned and 1,430 decisions of the Court of Appeal for those years, have been scanned. 

 

The exercise started on July 29, 2024 and is expected to be completed by the end of September, 2024, for the Zones of Arusha, Bukoba, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Iringa, Mbeya, Moshi and Mwanza.

The Registrar of the Court of Appeal Tanzania, Hon. George Herbert (first right) receiving information from the Library Director and Deputy Registrar of the High Court of Tanzania, Hon. Kifungu Kariho while other stakeholders witnessing how old and historical decisions are scanned so that they can be uploaded to the system that publishes decisions online (TanzLII).

The Registrar of the Court of Appeal Tanzania, Hon. George Herbert (third right) with the Personal Assistant ti the Chief Justice of Tanzania, Hon. Venance Mlingi and other stakeholders witnessing the exercise of scanning old and historical decisions.

Library Director and Deputy Registrar of the High Court of Tanzania, Hon. Kifungu Kariho (first left) with stakeholders who visited the ongoing exercise of scanning past decisions.

(This article has been translated by FAUSTINE KAPAMA-Judiciary, Dar es Salaam)