A Research Report Submitted Mzumbe University – Mbeya Campus College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Award of the Bachelor Degree of Laws (LL.B) of Mzumbe University.
The tort of malicious prosecution has been around in some form or another since the 18th century in England, thus it is a common law tort. The tort of malicious prosecution incidentally is one of the most underdeveloped torts in the common law system such that although it has been around for a number of centuries many of the common law legal system did not find suitable for holding the police accountable for those wrongly accused. Traditionally, the police have enjoyed protection from civil liability the manner in which they conduct criminal investigations and prosecute offenders. More recently however, police have seen these protections diminish and their exposure to civil liability increase as the common law has evolved to meet the demands of the modern welfare and thus in some jurisdictions it has been found proper to make the police accountable for the way they prosecute offenders without reason and probable cause. But that is not in Tanzania, where the tort is still largely unknown and thus embarrassingly underdeveloped. The underdevelopment of the tort of malicious prosecution in Tanzania is caused by some factors one being the Tanzania police force. But due to the tremendous changes this country has undergone for the last fifty years of independence, it is doubt whether any obstacle should be allowed to stand in the way of an aggrieved Tanzanian who wants to rely on the tort of malicious persecution to remedy injuries suffered due to being prosecuted without reasonable or probable cause, and in the light of this paper a prosecution brought by highly regarded public institution. Thus this work endeavors to study the impediments to the tort of malicious prosecution in Tanzania. But specific attention was paid to the Tanzania police force and on how it contributes to underdevelopment of the tort of malicious prosecution in Tanzania.