The Environmental Case Law Index is a collection of judgments from 10 African countries on topics relating to environmental law, both substantive and procedural. The collection focuses on cases where an environmental interest interacts with governmental or private interests.
Get started on finding judgments that are relevant to you by browsing the topic list on the left of the screen. Click the arrows next to the topic names to reveal a detailed list of sub-topics. Most judgments are accompanied by a short summary written by subject-area expert postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town.
Read also JIFA's Environmental Country Reports for SADC
Water Resources Management Authority v Kensalt Limited [2014] eKLR (Elc Civil Case 28 of 2013); (17 October 2014); 
Attribution of Costs Costs Civil Remedies Constitutional Interpretation Constitutional Law Locus standi in environmental litigation Litigation of environmental issues Environmental law Use of coastal and marine areas Water and coasts Environmental law Healthy environment Substantive rights Human Rights EL IndexThe plaintiff was claiming outstanding water use charges together with interest from the defendant.
The court determined if sea water can be owned or managed, and if so by which statutory body. The court held that art 260 of the Constitution defined land to include marine waters in the territorial sea and thus disagreed with the defendant’s argument that sea water is not capable of ownership. It was further held that the National Land Commission was the only body empowered to administer and manage the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the sea bed on behalf of the people of Kenya.
The court noted that the Water Act and the Water Resources Management Rules lacked specific provisions that included sea water as a water resource for the purpose of levying charges for the use of sea water. It was therefore held that the plaintiff lacked the locus standi to levy charges for use of sea water.
Accordingly, the case was struck out with costs to the plaintiff.
Mushoriwa v City of Harare (HC 4266/13) [2014] ZWHHC 195 (29 April 2014); EL Index Injunction Injunctions and interdicts Civil Remedies Interim Interdict Injunctions and interdicts Civil Remedies Freshwater use Water and coasts Environmental law |
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