National Council for Law Reporting
Milimani Commercial Courts,
Ground Floor
Ngong Road
P.O. Box 10443-00100
Tel (+254 020) 2712 767.
Fax (+254 020) 2712 694
Nairobi-Kenya
www.kenyalaw.org
EDITORIAL POLICY The purpose of this document is to outline the principles,
practices and policies that the Kenya Law Reports upholds in delivering the
highest standards of editorial integrity. As an editorial content provider, Kenya
Law Reports recognizes, respects and adheres to the professional and ethical
conduct acknowledged by both the publishing industry and our peers. Kenya Law
Reports strives to achieve and support the high standards in official law reporting
through good judgment and a commitment to our editorial principles, practices
and process.
Our Principles
We adhere to a common set of professional editorial principles that
guide our staff, our processes and our operations. We maintain an individual and
collective responsibility to uphold these principles throughout our editorial process.
Responsibility
We believe that law reports are an important source of information for
judicial officers, advocates, scholars as well as the general public and should be held to
an equal level of accountability, responsibility and integrity as the written law. Accuracy and reliability
The Kenya Law Reports illustrate judicial interpretations of the
rights and obligations of individuals and corporate persons under the Laws of Kenya and
therefore have a responsibility to be delivered with accuracy, timeously and consistently.
They should be delivered in a convenient form and at a moderate price.
Independence
Only our editorial staff will have control over the editorial process – from
collection of the Judicial Opinions to their publication. Though every effort will be made
to make the Kenya Law Reports receptive and responsive to the views of our customers,
at no time shall we permit non-editorial individuals or groups to have influence over our
editorial coverage or workflow. Our editorial coverage shall be free from any obligation
other than to accurately, timeously, impartially and consistently report on judge made
law. Any member of the Kenya Law Reports editorial team having a conflict of interest
with regard to the exercise of any of the duties in the editorial process will declare that
conflict of interest and the Editorial Team will deal with the conflict in a manner that
preserves the editorial integrity of the Kenya Law Reports.
Honesty and Integrity Honesty and Integrity are a founding principle of the Kenya Law
Reports. We maintain the balance of an individual's right to privacy with our obligation
to fairly and accurately report on the law. Our commitment to integrity is reflected
throughout our editorial workflow and our fair and unbiased reporting of the judgemade law.
Our Practices
We have instituted clear and non-ambiguous practices to uphold our core
principles. These practices comprise our code of conduct that is expected of all levels of
editorial staff:
1. 1. The Kenya Law Reports editorial team maintains complete control over the
editorial process;
2. 2. Members of the editorial team will not discharge their duties in a self-serving
manner. No staff member shall let their personal opinions influence the coverage of
judicial opinions, nor shall a third party be allowed to dictate or influence our
editorial process.
3. 3. Except in so far as will be necessary to protect the privacy and identity of certain
individuals in accordance with the law or publishing ethics, we will not censor our
editorial coverage.
4. 4. This document incorporates by reference the provisions of all the laws,
regulations, guidelines and codes of conduct and ethics for the time being regulating
the conduct of the staff of the National Council for Law Reporting (NCLR).
1. 1. The Mandate of the National Council for Law Reporting (NCLR) Under the
National Council for Law Reporting Act, 1994 (Act. No. 11 of 1994) section 3:
The Council shall
a. a)
be responsible for the preparation and publication of the reports to be
known as the Kenya Law Reports, which shall contain judgments, rulings and
opinions of the superior courts of record;
b. b)
undertake such other publications as in the opinion of the Council are
reasonably related to or connected with the preparation and publication of the
Kenya Law Reports; and
c. c)
Perform any other functions conferred on the Council by or under the
provisions of any other written law.
a. 2. The scope of the Kenya Law Reports: The Kenya Law Reports shall include
selected judicial opinions from:
b. a)
The Supreme Court of Justice;
c. b)
The Court of Appeal of Kenya;
d. c)
The High Court of Kenya; and
Subject to the permission of the Editor:
a. d)
The East Africa Court of Justice;
b. e)
The COMESA Court of Justice;
c. f)
Such other court as may be authorized by the Editor.
d. 3. The object of the Kenya Law Report is, not to inform the public of all that passes
in a court of law, but to preserve a record of what is decided to be law; and the object
of having this record is, to facilitate the knowledge of and study of the law itself.
a. 4. Hence, the duty of a Kenya Law Reporter is widely different from that of a
newspaper writer on the one hand, and from that of the Registrar of the Court on the
other. The compositions of the first are not intended for study, and the duty of the
last is only to register the final result of each particular case which is brought before
the Court.
a. 5. Law Reports, to be good, must be so both as regards the subject reported and the
manner in which the Reports themselves are framed.
a. 6. Criteria for selection of Reportable Cases: With respect to the subjects
reported, the Kenya Law Reports will report judicial opinions that satisfy the
editorial team on the following criteria:
The overriding consideration shall be to report judicial opinions which make a
material contribution to Kenyan or international jurisprudence. The emphasis
will therefore be on judicial opinions, preferably of a court of last resort, which
are precedent-setting i.e. those making new law by dealing with a novel
situation or extending the application of an existing principle of law or tending
to materially settle a point over which the law has been doubtful.
Such cases will include but will not be limited to:
a. a.
Those interpreting the language of legislation;
b. b.
Those in which the a judge applies a principle which although well
established, has not been applied for many years and may be regarded as
obsolete;
c. c.
Those in which the court sets out deliberately to clarify the law for the
benefit of lower courts and the teaching of law;
d. d.
Those in which a judge restates or abrogates an existing principle of law or
restates the principle in terms of a particular applicability to local jurisdiction;
e. e.
Those where a court states its review on a point of practice or procedure;
f. f.
Occasional judgments interpreting clauses found in contracts, wills,
articles, and other documents;
g. g.
Occasional judgments indicating the measure of awards being with regard
to quantum of damages for personal injury, death, defamation, etc;
h. h.
Appeals from decisions of lower courts which had been previously
reported;
i. i.
Judgments delivered in cases raising a matter of public interest or those
which are for some other reason, are particularly instructive.
a. 7. Cases to be excluded: On the other hand, the Kenya Law Reports will take
care to exclude
b. a)
Judicial opinions which pass without discussion or consideration, and
which may not be regarded as precedent-setting;
c. b)
Judicial opinions which are substantially repetitions of what is reported
already;
d. c)
Judicial opinions which, though tending to make a material contribution to
Kenyan jurisprudence, are not the opinions of a court of last resort and the point
of law raised by them has not been finally settled by a closure of litigation.
e. 8.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
a. 9.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
With respect to the manner in which the Kenya Law Reports are framed
a)
They will be accurate;
b)
They will be full, in the sense of containing everything material and useful;
c)
They will be concise as is consistent with the above objectives;
d)
They will be current and consistent in the sense that they will be abreast
with the Judicial Calendar;
e)
They will be uniform and standardized so that there is minimal variation
in style and structure.
In particular, each report of a judicial opinions shall show at least:
a)
the presiding judicial officer/s;
b)
the registry reference number for the case;
c)
the parties;
d)
the nature of the pleadings;
e)
the essential facts;
f)
the points contended for by counsel;
g)
the grounds on which the opinion is based;
h)
the judgment, decree, or order actually pronounced;
i)
the date of the judgment, decree or order;
j)
the advocates/attorneys appearing for the parties;
k)
The name of the reporter.
This editorial policy is supplemented by and is to be read along with the following
guidelines:
a. 1.
KLR Guidelines for the Preparation of Case Summaries;
b. 2.
KLR Anonymization Guidelines;
c. 3.
The KLR In-House Style Guide for copyreading and proofreading of judicial
opinions;
d. 4.
KLR In-House Style Guide for final reading of the book manuscript
e. 5.
KLR In-House Style Guide for Laying out of Judicial Opinions
Adopted with modification from the guidelines used by Butterworth’s All England
Law Reports.
Created April 2006
Revised October 1st 2009.