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Uganda
Illiterates Protection Act
Chapter 78
Legislation as at 31 December 2000
FRBR URI: /akn/ug/act/ord/1918/9/eng@2000-12-31
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Illiterates Protection Act
Contents
1. Interpretation .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Verification of signature of illiterates ...................................................................................................................................................... 1
3. Verification of documents written for illiterates ................................................................................................................................. 1
4. Offence and penalty ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
5. Saving as to certain documents ................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Schedule (Section 5) ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
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Illiterates Protection Act Uganda
Uganda
Illiterates Protection Act
Chapter 78
Commenced on 30 September 1918
[This is the version of this document at 31 December 2000 and
includes any amendments published up to 30 September 2020.]
An Act for the protection of illiterate persons.
1. Interpretation
In this Act—
(a) “document” means any print or writing capable of being used as evidence of any fact or thing as
against the person by, for or at the request, or on behalf or in the name of whom the same purports
to be written or signed in any way;
(b) “illiterate” means, in relation to any document, a person who is unable to read and understand
the script or language in which the document is written or printed.
2. Verification of signature of illiterates
No person shall write the name of an illiterate by way of signature to any document unless such illiterate
shall have first appended his or her mark to it; and any person who so writes the name of the illiterate
shall also write on the document his or her own true and full name and address as witness, and his or her
so doing shall imply a statement that he or she wrote the name of the illiterate by way of signature after
the illiterate had appended his or her mark, and that he or she was instructed so to write by the illiterate
and that prior to the illiterate appending his or her mark, the document was read over and explained to
the illiterate.
3. Verification of documents written for illiterates
Any person who shall write any document for or at the request, on behalf or in the name of any illiterate
shall also write on the document his or her own true and full name as the writer of the document and his
or her true and full address, and his or her so doing shall imply a statement that he or she was instructed
to write the document by the person for whom it purports to have been written and that it fully and
correctly represents his or her instructions and was read over and explained to him or her.
4. Offence and penalty
If the writer of or witness to the signature on any document fails to write on it his or her true and full
name and address as provided in section 2 or 3, or if he or she has done so and the statement which
under this Act is implied by the writing is untrue in any particular, then and in every such case the person
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding three hundred shillings, or in
default of payment to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months, but without prejudice to
any criminal or civil liability which he or she may have incurred in the circumstances by reason of fraud,
forgery, misrepresentation or otherwise.
5. Saving as to certain documents
Nothing in this Act shall apply to documents of the classes specified in the Schedule to this Act. The
Schedule may be varied from time to time by the Minister by statutory instrument.
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Illiterates Protection Act Uganda
Schedule (Section 5)
Exempted documents
1. Receipts for taxes.
2. Receipts for money paid by a Government officer on behalf of the Treasury.
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