Act and Laws in Kenya

Every application for leave to serve such summons or notice on a defendant out of Kenya shall be supported by affidavit or other evidence, stating that in the belief of the deponent the plaintiff has a good cause of action, and showing in what place or country such defendant is or probably may be...

Any order giving leave to effect such service or give such notice shall limit a time after such service or notice within which such defendant is to enter an appearance; such time to depend on the place or country where or within which the summons is to be served, or the notice given.

Where leave to serve a summons or notice of summons out of Kenya has been granted under rule 21, and the defendant is a Commonwealth citizen as defined in subsections (1) and (2) of section 95 of the Constitution or resides in any of the countries for the time being mentioned in subsection (3) of...

(1) Where the defendant is neither a Commonwealth citizen as aforesaid nor resides in any of the countries referred to in rule 27, notice of the summons and not the summons itself shall be served upon him. (2) Notice of summons shall be in Form No. 6 of Appendix A with such variations as the...

Where leave is given to serve notice of summons in a foreign country to which this rule may by order of the Chief Justice from time to time be applied, the following procedure shall be adopted— (a) the notice to be served shall be sealed with the seal of the High Court for use out of Kenya, and...

The court may direct that any summons, order or notice shall be served on any party or person in a foreign country, and the procedure prescribed by rule 27, with reference to service of notice of a summons, shall apply to service of any summons, order or notice so directed to be served.

Rules 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 shall apply in the case of civil proceedings by the Government but shall not apply in the case of civil proceedings against the Government.

Where in any civil or commercial matter pending before a court or tribunal of a foreign country a letter of request from such court or tribunal for service on any person in Kenya of any process or citation in such matter is transmitted to the High Court, with an intimation that it is desirable that...

Upon the application of the Attorney-General the court may make all such orders for substituted service or otherwise as may be necessary to give effect to rule 32.

Where in any civil or commercial matter pending before a court or tribunal in any foreign country with which a Convention in that behalf has been or shall be made and applied to Kenya, a request for service of any document on a person in Kenya is received by the Registrar of the High Court from the...

Where a defendant has been served with summons to appear, he shall unless some order be made by the court, file his appearance within the time prescribed in the summons.

(1) Appearance shall be effected by delivering or sending by post to the proper officer a memorandum of appearance in triplicate in Form No. 12 Appendix A with such variation as the circumstances require, signed by the advocate by whom the defendant appears or, if the defendant appears in person, by...

(1) The advocates of the defendant shall state in the memorandum of appearance the addresses for service being the place of business within Kenya and postal address. (2) A defendant appearing in person shall state in the memorandum of appearance his addresses for service being either his place of...

If the memorandum of appearance does not contain an address for service within Kenya it shall not be filed; and if any address given is illusory or fictitious the appearance may be set aside on the application of the plaintiff.

If two or more defendants appear in the same suit by the same advocate and at the same time, the names of all the defendants so appearing shall be inserted in the same memorandum of appearance.

(1) Documents may either be delivered by hand or by licensed courier service provider approved by the court to the address for service or may be posted to it. (2) Where delivery is disputed a certificate of posting or other evidence of delivery shall be filed.

Where a defendant has been served with a summons to appear he shall, unless some other or further order be made by the court, file his defence within fourteen days after he has entered an appearance in the suit and serve it on the plaintiff within fourteen days from the date of filing the defence...

Where in any suit a defence of tender before action is pleaded the defendant shall pay into court, in accordance with Order 27, the amount alleged to have been tendered, and the tender shall not be available as a defence unless and until payment into court has been made.

A defendant in a suit may set-off, or set-up by way of counterclaim against the claims of the plaintiff, any right or claim, whether such set-off or counterclaim sound in damages or not, and whether it is for a liquidated or unliquidated amount, and such set-off or counterclaim shall have the same...

Notwithstanding anything contained in rule 2, a person shall not be entitled to avail himself of any set-off or counterclaim in any proceedings by the Government for the recovery of taxes, duties or penalties, or to avail himself in proceedings by the Government of any other nature of any set-off or...

The defence and counterclaim filed under rule 1 and 2 shall be accompanied by— (a) an affidavit under Order 4 rule 1(2) where there is a counterclaim; (b) a list of witnesses to be called at the trial; (c) written statements signed by the witnesses except expert witnesses; and (d) copies of...

If either party wishes to deny the right of any other party to claim as executor or as trustee whether in bankruptcy or otherwise, or in any representative or other alleged capacity or the alleged constitution of any partnership firm, he shall deny the same specifically.

Where any defendant seeks to rely upon any grounds as supporting a right of counterclaim, he shall, in his statement of defence, state specifically that he does so by way of counterclaim.

Where a defendant by his defence sets up any counterclaim which raises questions between himself and the plaintiff, together with any other person or persons, he shall add to the title of his defence a further title similar to the title in a plaint, setting forth the names of all persons who, if...

Where any such person as is mentioned in rule 8 is not a party to the suit, he shall be summoned to appear by being served with a copy of the defence, which shall be served in accordance with the rules for regulating service of summons.

Any person not already a party to the suit who is served with a defence and counterclaim as aforesaid must appear thereto as if he had been served with a summons to appear in the suit.

Any person named in a defence as a party to a counterclaim thereby made may, unless some other or further order is made by the court, deliver a reply within fifteen days after service upon him of the counterclaim and shall serve a copy thereof on all parties to the suit.

Where a defendant sets up a counterclaim, if the plaintiff or any other person named in the manner aforesaid as party to such counterclaim contends that the claim thereby raised ought not to be disposed of by way of counterclaim, but in an independent suit, he may at any time before reply, apply to...

If, in any case in which the defendant sets up a counterclaim the suit of the plaintiff is stayed, discontinued or dismissed, the counterclaim may nevertheless be proceeded with.

Where in any suit a set-off or counterclaim is established as a defence against the plaintiff’s claim, the court may, if the balance is in favour of the defendant, give judgment for the defendant for such balance, or may otherwise adjudge to the defendant such relief as he may be entitled to upon...