Court of Appeal Practice Directions 2015 Checklist

The formatting rules for the Kenya Court of Appeal come from one document: the Court of Appeal Practice Direction, Civil Appeals and Applications, 2015, issued at Nairobi by the President of the Court of Appeal, pursuant to Sections 3A and 3B of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, to help advocates and litigants comply with the Court of Appeal Rules, 2010. This post quotes the provisions that govern page numbering, line numbering, and document formatting directly, with the exact paragraph numbers.

If you want the plain-language explanation of what tenthlining means before working through this checklist, see What Is Tenthlining and Why Kenyan Courts Require It.

The checklist

• [ ] Documents comply with rule 13 of the Court of Appeal Rules, 2010
• [ ] A4 paper is used, not foolscap
• [ ] All pages are numbered in the top right-hand corner
• [ ] Every tenth line of the document is numbered in the right-hand margin
• [ ] Applications, affidavits, and Records of Appeal include the advocate's email and mobile telephone number
• [ ] Applications and affidavits are bound, with pages numbered and every tenth line numbered, matching the same requirement as above
• [ ] Written submissions are typed or printed at 1.5 spacing, font size 12 or larger

Each of these traces back to a specific paragraph. Here they are, quoted directly.

Paragraph 1: documents filed in the Court of Appeal

"1. Documents filed in the Court of Appeal: a. All documents filed in the Court of Appeal shall comply with rule 13. b. A4 paper shall be used in place of foolscap. ... d. All pages shall be numbered in the top right hand corner. e. Every tenth line of every document shall be numbered in the right hand margin. f. Advocates shall include in all applications, affidavits and Records of Appeal their e-mail and mobile telephone numbers to facilitate communication by the Registry."

Source: Court of Appeal Practice Direction, Civil Appeals and Applications, 2015, Paragraph 1(a), (b), (d), (e), (f).

Paragraphs 1(d) and 1(e) are the two provisions that together make up what's commonly called tenthlining: consecutive page numbers in the top right corner, and a separate line-numbering pass marking every tenth line in the right margin. This is the same two-part structure as the Supreme Court's Paragraph 11, covered in Supreme Court Practice Directions 2020: Paragraph 11, though the two courts' directions are separate documents and shouldn't be assumed to be identical in every respect.

Paragraph 1(a) references "rule 13" of the Court of Appeal Rules, 2010, without restating its content here. If your document formatting depends on rule 13 itself rather than on this Practice Direction's restatement of the numbering requirement, check rule 13 directly rather than relying on a secondhand summary of it.

Paragraph 3: applications and affidavits

"3. Applications: a. All applications and affidavits shall be bound with all pages numbered and every tenth line numbered in compliance with paragraph 1 (d) and (e) above."

Source: Court of Appeal Practice Direction, Civil Appeals and Applications, 2015, Paragraph 3(a).

This paragraph does two things worth noting. First, it confirms that applications and affidavits are explicitly covered by the same tenthlining requirement as Paragraph 1, not a separate or lighter standard. Second, it adds a binding requirement, the document must be physically bound, on top of the numbering requirement.

Paragraph 5: written submissions

"5. Written Submissions: a. Written submissions should be typed or printed using 1.5 spacing and a font of at least 12 points."

Source: Court of Appeal Practice Direction, Civil Appeals and Applications, 2015, Paragraph 5(a).

This is a narrower formatting rule than the Supreme Court's Paragraph 12. The Court of Appeal directions specify a minimum font size (12 points) and a line spacing (1.5), but do not name a required font typeface the way the Supreme Court's Paragraph 12 specifies Times New Roman, and do not set out margin measurements in centimeters. Don't assume the Supreme Court's font and margin specifics carry over to the Court of Appeal. The two directions were issued separately, five years apart, and only overlap on the tenthlining requirement itself.

What this means for Records of Appeal specifically

The tenthlining requirement isn't limited to a single document type. Paragraph 1 applies to "every document" filed in the Court of Appeal, and Paragraph 3 explicitly extends the same requirement to applications and affidavits. In practice that means the memorandum of appeal, the record of appeal as a whole, supporting affidavits, and written submissions all need the same page and line numbering treatment, not just the lead document in a filing.

Applying this with Tenthliner

Tenthliner's Court of Appeal preset applies Paragraph 1's numbering format, page numbers in the top right corner, every tenth line numbered in the right margin, in one step, so you're not manually re-checking paragraph text against each document before filing. The binding requirement in Paragraph 3, and the spacing and font-size requirements in Paragraph 5, are set in your word processor before conversion to PDF, the same division of labor covered for the Supreme Court's directions in the earlier article: numbering is the last step before filing, document formatting is set before that.

Rejections on the e-filing system

A Record of Appeal or application that's missing the required numbering, or uses a smaller font than Paragraph 5 allows, can be rejected on the Judiciary of Kenya E-Filing System the same way a High Court or Supreme Court filing can be. Common Tenthlining Mistakes That Get Pleadings Rejected covers the specific, recurring ways this goes wrong, including the mistake of reusing one court's format for a different court's filing.

Try Tenthliner free: 50 credits, no card required, including the Court of Appeal preset built directly from Paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Practice Direction.