Case Management System in the High Court of Tanzania: An Empirical Exposition of the Missing Elements

This article examines the effectiveness of the Case Management System (CMS) in the High Court of Tanzania, with a focus on its essential elements. It utilizes both documentary review and empirical research, gathering data through semi-structured interviews with Justices of the Court of Appeal, Judges of the High Court, Registrars and Deputy Registrars, State Attorneys, and Senior Advocates. Despite the implementation of legal and administrative measures by the High Court to ensure the timely dispensation of justice, the High Court has, on average, disposed of less than 60% of all the cases processed in the past four years. Such rates led to case delays and backlogs. This The article examined the existence of essential elements of CMS in the applied system. The analysis indicated that scrutinization or early screening, scheduling of time and events, and supervision or control over proceedings are the essential elements for an effective CMS. Additionally, the applied CMS partly contains such essential elements. Although in practice all the CMS elements are missing to a varying frequency, the supervision or control over the proceedings element of CMS is the most important missing element. This empirical exposition is indicative of the possibility that case delays and backlogs in the High Court result from a lack of this specific element.