Barthazar Barongo v. Mary Benedicto, Dist. Ct. Civ. App. 5-Shinyanga-66, 23/3/68, Mustafa J.

Barthazar Barongo v. Mary Benedicto, Dist. Ct. Civ. App. 5-Shinyanga-66, 23/3/68, Mustafa J.

Plaintiff husband obtained a divorce in the Primary Court of Shinyanga. There was evidence that plaintiff and defendant had been married for fifteen years and had six children, but that no bride wealth had been paid at the time of the marriage. The primary  court heard the case without assessors, and the appeal to the district court was heard with assessors, but the magistrate did not obtain their opinion before giving judgment. The case was referred to the High Court by the supervisory magistrate.

            Held: (1) Section 5 of the Law of Persons [G.N. 279 of 1963] provides; “The payment of bride wealth is not essential for the validity of a marriage.” There was other evidence of a marriage here, and therefore the granting of a divorce was proper. (2) The primary court should hve sat with assessors and the district court should have taken the opinions of the assessors. No order of revision made.