Why do court cases get adjourned?. Click here on #iip_updates to learn more.

6-October-2025.

                                                  📸: Courtesy Photo.

Moses hired a smart Kampala lawyer to handle his father’s land case. The case had been in court for almost 6 years, and Moses decided to change Advocates and close the case. Upon hiring the new lawyer, he was disappointed that no progress was made for a whole year. Every time they go to court, they are told it has been “adjourned” to another day. He suspects that the lawyers have been bribed; otherwise, why is the case not being heard?

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

You have probably heard the word adjournment, and you may wonder what it means. In law, adjournment is the temporary suspension or postponement of a court proceeding, hearing, or trial to a later time or date. It is a formal pause in the legal process, often granted for reasons such as a party needing more time to prepare evidence, the unavailability of a key witness or participant, or to resolve administrative matters. An adjournment can be for a specific, later time, or it can be indefinite, meaning the parties will have to reapply to the court to schedule it again. 

In cases where you feel like the matter is being unnecessarily delayed and there is no justification for an adjournment, you have the right to request the judge, through your lawyer, not to adjourn the matter for lack of sufficient cause of adjournment. 

Adjournment is a preserve of the court, and therefore, if the court has sufficient reasons to adjourn the matter, the duty of the parties is to follow up with the clerk to determine the next hearing date.

Source: BarefootLawyers