PTC v MAHACHI 1997 (2) ZLR 71 (H)

Flynote

Appeal — noting of — effect — appeal against decision of Labour Relations Tribunal — whether noting of appeal suspends operation of judgment of Tribunal

Employment — Labour Relations Tribunal — decision of — appeal against — whether operation of decision suspended by noting of appeal

Headnote

The plaintiff sought an order for the eviction of the defendant from a dwelling house, on the grounds of failure to pay the rent. The defendant claimed that he occupied the house by virtue of his employment by the plaintiff and that the terms of employment were that he was entitled to live in the house as long as he remained in employment. He said that although the plaintiff had applied for and obtained an order authorising his dismissal, and although the order was upheld by the Labour Relations Tribunal, he remained an employee because he had noted an appeal to the Supreme Court against the Tribunal's decision. The question for decision was whether the noting of the appeal suspended the decision appealed against.

Held, that the common law rule of practice is that generally the operation of a judgment is suspended on the noting of an appeal, except with the leave of the court which granted the judgment. The Labour Relations Tribunal, though, was a creature of statute and whether the common law rule applied depended on the construction to be placed on the statute which created it.

Held, further, that there was a presumption that the common law rule applied. The Labour Relations Act was silent as to whether the noting of an appeal to the Supreme Court suspended the operation of the Tribunal's judgment. There is also a presumption in the interpretation of statutes that Parliament does not intend to alter the common law unless it does so expressly or by necessary implication. There was nothing in the Act to suggest such an intent. In addition, the provision that the Tribunal was a court of record indicated that Parliament intended to bring it into line with other courts and to confer on it the trappings of a court of justice. Consequently, the decision of the Tribunal was suspended by the noting of the appeal.