   PARTITION OF INHERITANCES   [ CAP. 308.        1
CHAPTER 308 
PARTITION OF INHERITANCES ACT
To make new provisions for the liquidation and partition of inheritances
and to provide for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.
(27th July, 1984) *
Enacted by ACT XIII of 1984, as amended by Act XXIV of 1995.
Short title.
Interpretation.
Amended by: 
XXIV.1995.362.
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires - 
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for justice;
Cap. 16.
"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations under this Act;
"property" means any thing or right as is referred to in Title I of
Part I of Book Second of the Civil Code;
"public officer" and "public service" have the same meaning as is
assigned to them by section 124 of the Constitution;
"Registrar" means the Registrar of Courts;
"Tribunal" means the Partition of Inheritances Tribunal
established by section 4 of this Act.
Partition of 
common property.
3. (1) Where two or more persons hold in common any
property deriving to them from an inheritance, such property may
be subject to partition in accordance with the provisions of this Act
on a demand made as provided in subsection (2) of this section:
Provided that no such demand shall be made except after
three years have elapsed from the opening of the succession.
(2) Such demand may be made by application to the Tribunal
by one or more co-owners who at the time of the opening of the
succession either own between them not less than fifty  per centum
of the shareholding of the property so held in common or together
constitute not less than fifty  per centum  of the number of all the co-
owners.
Cap. 16.
(3) The provisions of the foregoing subsections of this section
shall be without prejudice to the provisions of section 906 of the
Civil Code.
(4) Where however an action is brought before or referred to
the Tribunal in accordance with the provisions of this Act the
Tribunal shall so long as such action is pending before it have
exclusive jurisdiction with respect to the subject matter thereof and
no other action in respect of the same claim shall be brought before
any court of first instance.
Arbitration 
Tribunal.
4. (1) There is hereby established a tribunal to be known as
the Partition of Inheritances Tribunal.
* See  subsection (2) of section 1 of the Act as originally enacted, which subsection has
been omitted under the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980, and Legal Notice 34 of 1984.
  2      CAP. 308. ]         PARTITION OF INHERITANCES
(2) The Tribunal shall take cognizance of and decide on any
demand brought before it in accordance with this Act and of any
regulations made thereunder.
Constitution of 
Tribunal.
Amended by: 
XXIV.1995.362.
5. (1) The Tribunal shall consist of one or three arbitrators
who shall be appointed and shall serve in accordance with the
provisions of this Act. Except where all the co-owners agree that it
shall consist of three arbitrators, the Tribunal shall consist of one
arbitrator.
(2) An arbitrator shall be one of a panel of persons appointed
by the President of the Republic acting in accordance with the
advice of the Prime Minister from amongst persons who in the
Prime Minister’s opinion are qualified to carry out the duties and
functions of arbitrators for the purposes of this Act.
(3) A person shall be disqualified from being appointed or
serving as arbitrator so long as he is a member of the House of
Representatives.
(4) The arbitrators shall sit in the Tribunal, either in turn or in
accordance with such distribution of duties and subject to such
provisions as to inability to serve and other circumstances, as the
Minister may establish or as may be prescribed.
(5) Before taking cognizance of any application brought before
the Tribunal, the arbitrator, if he does not hold judicial office, shall
take an oath to examine and decide the application faithfully,
impartially and in accordance with this Act; and such oath shall be
taken before the Court of Appeal.
Cap. 12.
(6) The Minister shall designate a public officer to be Secretary
of the Tribunal, and may also detail other public officers to assist
the Secretary in the performance of his duties. The Secretary of the
Tribunal shall have  mutatis mutandis  such powers and duties as are
by the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure vested in the
Registrar of Courts.
(7) The registry of the superior courts shall be the registry of
the Tribunal, and all records of proceedings of the Tribunal shall be
retained in such registry under the custody of the Registrar.
Functions of 
arbitrators.
6. (1) A person appointed to the panel of arbitrators shall so
serve for the period specified in his appointment being a period of
not less than three years, and if no such period is specified he shall
serve for a period of three years.
(2) An arbitrator may be removed from office during the period
of his appointment only in the same circumstances and manner as a
judge of the superior courts.
(3) An arbitrator actually serving as such in a particular case
shall, notwithstanding the termination of his period of service,
continue so to serve on the proceedings in which he is serving as
arbitrator until the conclusion of those proceedings and thereafter
for the purpose of the interpretation, correction and making good
an omission in any award given therein.
   PARTITION OF INHERITANCES   [ CAP. 308.        3
Application for 
arbitration.
7. An application to the Tribunal made as provided in section
3 of this Act shall be filed in the Registry of the Tribunal in such
manner, on the payment of such fees and together with such
documents as may be prescribed.
Service of 
application on 
respondents.
8. (1) A copy of the application together with the documents
and notes filed therewith shall be served on each of the respondent
co-owners.
(2) The respondents shall within twenty working days of the
service of the application file an answer thereto in which they state
any points of disagreement with the contents of the application or
with the documents filed therewith.
Transmission of 
court records to the 
Tribunal.
9.  (1) Where an action for the partition of hereditary property
is pending before a court of first instance, the party or parties who
together could, if the case were not so pending, make an application
in accordance with section 3 of this Act, may by a note or by notes
filed in the Registry of the court before which the case is pending
request the court to transmit the cause to the Tribunal, and the court
shall thereupon order that the records of the case be transmitted to
the Tribunal.
(2) The filing of such note or notes, as the case may be, shall be
deemed to be a withdrawal of the action from the jurisdiction of
that court and an application to the Tribunal for a decision on the
demand contained in the act commencing the proceedings before
the court:
Provided that no registry fees shall be levied for such
discontinuance of the action.
(3) The Tribunal shall hear and decide the matter transmitted to
it as aforesaid within the limits of the demand, the pleas thereto and
any counter-claim made, and on the evidence presented according
to law, whether made or presented before the court or the Tribunal.
Proceedings before 
the Tribunal.
10. (1) The application, or the action transmitted to the
Tribunal under section 9, shall be set down for hearing at an early
date. 
(2) The Tribunal shall hold its sittings and deliver its award,
including any preliminary or partial award, in public unless all the
parties agree otherwise.
Cap. 12.
(3) The Tribunal shall hear the applications in conformity with
the rules laid down in the Code of Organization and Civil
Procedure in so far as may be applicable to the proceedings before
the Tribunal and not incompatible with this Act.
Cap. 16.
(4) The Tribunal shall decide any matter before it in
accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code relating to the
partition of an inheritance and of any other law in so far as
applicable to the matter before the Tribunal, and shall award costs
accordingly. Such costs shall include the costs incurred by any
party before the court of first instance in any cause which is
transmitted to the Tribunal in accordance with the provisions of this
Act.
  4      CAP. 308. ]         PARTITION OF INHERITANCES
(5) Every award shall be signed by the arbitrator, and where the
arbitrators are three by each arbitrator:
Provided that a dissenting arbitrator need not sign the award,
but a mention of this fact shall be made by the other arbitrators.
(6) The award delivered by the Tribunal shall be final and
conclusive.
(7) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (6) of this
section, the Tribunal shall have power to give at any time, at the
request of any of the parties, an interpretation of the award or of
any points determined therein, and to make good any error or
omission in any award.
Appearance before 
Tribunal.
11. The parties may appear before the Tribunal in person or
may be duly represented by another person.
Time for delivery 
of award.
12. (1) Unless all the parties to the arbitration proceedings
agree otherwise, the Tribunal shall give the award not later than six
months from the day the respondents have filed their answer or the
day on which the time for the filing of the answer expires,
whichever is the earlier.
(2) Where the award cannot be delivered within the time
mentioned in the preceding subsection, such time may be extended
for further periods, each not exceeding six months, at the request of
the applicants or by the Tribunal in exceptional circumstances
which shall be expressly stated and entered in the records of the
arbitration proceedings.
Cap. 12.
(3) Where any period referred to in the preceding subsections
of this section is for any reason not extended as therein provided,
the proceedings shall be deemed to have been adjourned to an
unspecified date and the provisions of sections 964 and 965 of the
Code of Organization and Civil Procedure shall,  mutatis mutandis,
apply to such proceedings; and in any such case the period
mentioned in subsection (1) of this section shall commence on the
date of the reappointment of the cause.
General powers of 
the Tribunal. 
Cap. 12.
13. (1) The Tribunal shall have such powers as are by the
Code of Organization and Civil Procedure vested in the Civil
Court, First Hall.
(2) Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this
section, the Tribunal shall have the power to summon witnesses and
to administer the oath, to appoint experts to report on matters of a
technical nature involved in the dispute, and to require any person
who appears to it to have special knowledge of any relevant matter,
or of any of the matters to which the application referred to relates,
or of the matter referred to it, to furnish in writing or otherwise,
and to confirm on oath, such opinion and such particulars relating
to the application, including the partition into shares of any things
movable or immovable, as the Tribunal may require, and may
authorise any person to administer the oath for that purpose.
Function of the 
Tribunal.
14. (1) The Tribunal shall endeavour to bring about a
compromise between the parties on the issues in dispute.
   PARTITION OF INHERITANCES   [ CAP. 308.        5
(2) Where a compromise is reached the Tribunal shall draw up
a  procès-verbal  thereof and shall incorporate the compromise in an
award after such  procès-verbal  is signed by the parties or by their
legal representatives or is otherwise accepted or adhered to by a
signed instrument filed with a note in the Registry of the Tribunal.
Abstention or 
challenge of 
arbitrators. 
Cap. 12.
15. The arbitrator may be challenged, or shall abstain, from
sitting in the Tribunal in any of the circumstances set out in section
734 of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure; and in any
such case the provisions of Sub-Title II of Title II of Book Third of
that Code shall apply in so far as they are applicable and subject to
the other provisions of this Act.
Effects of awards 
of the Tribunal. 
Cap. 12.
16.   (1) The enforcement of the awards of the Tribunal shall be
carried out in the manner prescribed in the Code of Organization
and Civil Procedure, and shall vest in the Tribunal itself.
(2) Where the award requires a public deed, the Tribunal shall
appoint a notary to publish the deed and curators to represent
defaulters on the deed, and fix the place, date and time for the
publication of the deed.
Arbitrators’ and 
experts’ fees.
Cap.12.
17. The fees payable to the arbitrators and to any experts
appointed by them shall be those established for legal and other
referees under the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure, and
the provisions of that Code applicable to referees shall apply to
such arbitrators or experts:
Provided that no such fees shall be payable to the arbitrators
who hold a judicial office or are selected from the public service. 
Power to make 
regulations.
18. The Minister may from time to time make regulations
governing the procedure of the Tribunal and, without prejudice to
the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations - 
( a ) prescribing the contents of an application to the
Tribunal, the answer thereto, and any other written
proceedings before the Tribunal, the manner of filing
of any such act, and the documents which shall be filed
therewith;
( b ) prescribing the procedure for the service of any act on
the other party;
( c ) prescribing the procedure for the fixing by the
Tribunal of the date of hearing of the application and
for the giving notice of such date to the parties
concerned;
( d ) prescribing the fees, other than those provided for in
section 17, charges and expenses payable in
connection with any proceeding before the Tribunal,
including registry fees for the award or for the
discontinuance of the cause;
( e ) prescribing the fees payable to a person in respect of
the appearance or assistance on behalf of a party in the
proceedings before the Tribunal;
( f ) prescribing the fee payable to the Registry in respect
  6      CAP. 308. ]         PARTITION OF INHERITANCES
of the issue of any authentic copy of award or
document in the records of the Tribunal;
( g ) prescribing any other matter that may be necessary for
the better carrying out of the functions of the Tribunal.
