Judgments and orders are recorded in a minute, drawn and settled by the Registry. Mistakes creep in. Order 8 Rule 59 of the National Court Rules 1983 allows them to be corrected.
Order 8 Rule 59
(1) Where there is a clerical mistake in a minute of a judgement or order, or an error in a minute of a judgement or order arising from an accidental slip or omission, the Court, on application by a party or of its own motion, may, at any time, correct the mistake or error.
(2) Rules 56, 57 and 58 do not apply to a correction made under Sub-rule (1).
“At any time” — there is no time limit. A slip may be corrected years later.
“Or of its own motion” — the Court need not be asked. A judge who notices an error in a minute may correct it.
Sub-rule (2) disapplies the ordinary amendment machinery — Rule 56 (Form 23 notice), Rule 57 (fresh document) and Rule 58 (service after amendment). A slip-rule correction is not an amendment in that sense.
Note also Order 8 Rule 50(4): the general power to amend documents does not apply to the amendment of a minute of a judgement or order. Rule 59 is the provision for minutes, and the only one.
Clerical mistakes and accidental slips
| Within the rule | Outside the rule |
|---|---|
| A figure mistyped — K45,000 for K54,000 | The judge awarded the wrong amount |
| A party’s name misspelled in the minute | Judgment entered against the wrong party |
| A date wrongly transcribed | The judge chose the wrong date |
| Costs pronounced but omitted from the minute | The judge declined to order costs |
| An order made but left out of the minute by oversight | An order the judge decided not to make |
| Interest ordered orally but not recorded | Interest never ordered |
The slip rule makes the record match the decision. It does not change the decision.
So the question to ask is: did the Court decide X, and does the minute say something else? If yes, Rule 59 applies. If the complaint is that the Court should have decided differently, it does not — whatever the merits of that complaint.
The word “accidental” is doing work in the second limb. An omission that reflects a deliberate decision is not accidental.
How to seek a correction
- Raise it with the other side first. Most slips are obvious and uncontroversial, and a consent approach saves a contested motion.
- Apply by notice of motion citing Order 8 Rule 59, as Motions Rule 8 requires a concise reference to the jurisdiction.
- Exhibit the minute and the evidence of what was decided — the transcript, the written reasons, or the judge’s or associate’s note. Under Order 12 Rule 9, the Court may take judicial notice of any order in the proceedings, and may be informed of it by reference to a note made by the Judge making the order or by his associate.
- List it before the same judge where possible — that judge knows what was decided.
- Identify the correction precisely, with the words to be substituted.
Under Order 12 Division 2, a party may lodge a draft minute with the Registrar; the Registrar may settle it without an appointment, or appoint a time with two days’ notice to the other side — and may settle the draft in the absence of a party who does not attend, or draw and settle a minute where no party has lodged one.
A party who lodges a careful draft and attends the appointment rarely needs the slip rule.
Where Rule 59 will not help
Set aside or vary under Order 12 Rule 8. Available where notice of motion is filed before entry of the judgment; where the judgment was entered under the default judgment Division; or where it was entered in the absence of a party. Sub-rule (4) allows the Court to set aside or vary any order except so far as it determines a claim for relief or a question arising on a claim for relief, and except a dismissal.
Set aside a verdict given in your absence — Order 10 Rule 12(2), but the motion must be filed and served within seven days.
Set aside an ex parte order — before the same judge, inter partes.
Appeal under section 14 of the Supreme Court Act (Chapter 37), where the decision itself is said to be wrong.
The Court’s general power to set aside or vary an order does not extend to an order so far as it determines any claim for relief or determines any question arising on a claim for relief, nor to an order for dismissal.
In other words, once the Court has decided the substance, the National Court will not simply revisit it. The route is the Supreme Court. Order 12 Rule 8(5) nonetheless preserves any other power of the Court to set aside or vary a judgement or order.
Order 14 Rule 39(1) allows the Court to vary a judgment against a person in a business name so as to make it a judgment against that person in his own name — the notice of motion being served personally. That is a substantive variation rather than a slip, and has its own rule. See suing a business name.
Sources
- National Court Rules 1983 — O 4 Div 5 (Motions Rules rr 8, 19(4)); O 8 rr 50, 56–59; O 10 r 12; O 12 rr 8, 9, Div 2; O 14 r 39
- Supreme Court Act (Chapter 37) — s 14
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the National Court Rules 1983 and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.