Procedures
High Court Rules with Roman-Dutch pleading and Court of Appeal review
Civil procedure follows the High Court Rules, with pleadings, discovery and trial in the English adversarial pattern, applied to Roman-Dutch substantive claims. Prescription of debts runs under the Prescription Act, and the Court of Appeal hears appeals as of right on questions of law.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Magistrates' courts hear claims within monetary limits; the High Court has unlimited original jurisdiction.
- Deadline — Notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal: 6 weeks from the judgment appealed against
- Deadline — Contractual debt prescription: 6 years; delictual claims 3 years
Governing law
- Rules of the High CourtCap 04:02
- Prescription ActCap 13:01
- Magistrates' Courts ActCap 04:04
In practice
The procedural/substantive split is the practical point: a Botswana practitioner pleads a delict, not a tort, and computes prescription under a Roman-Dutch statute, while conducting the case under English-style rules of court and evidence.