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High Court of Kenya rulings on AI-generated pleadings: Savla v Commission on Administrative Justice and the April 2026 set-aside

High Court of Kenya at Milimani

last revised 2026-03-06last verified 2026-09-042 versionscountry page →

Judgment (guidance)In forceVerification dutyProhibition

map categories:Duty to verify AI outputSelf-represented litigantsSanctions for AI misuseDisclosure of AI use in filings

Unverified: we have not yet opened the official document at the linked address. The record is listed for completeness and excluded from search indexes until confirmed.

Two 2026 High Court rulings in the same litigation set Kenya's de facto position: AI-generated pleadings are procedurally deficient. Mwamuye J held that computer-generated documents or AI outputs cannot substitute for human-drawn documents; Chigiti J then set aside the resulting judgment, reasoning that the Civil Procedure Rules do not authorise AI-drafted pleadings and that their use confers an unfair advantage.

Applies to
litigants, lawyers, parties
Effective
See version history
Current version
Ruling striking out AI-generated application (Mwamuye J) · 06 Mar 2026
Last verified
04 Sept 2026
Official text
capitalfm.africa/milimani-high-court-ai-generated-documents-struck-out…

What the document requires

  • Mwamuye J: computer-generated documents or outputs of artificial intelligence cannot be a proper substitute for human-drawn documents.
  • The offending notice of motion breached Order 51 rule 13 and the supporting affidavit Order 19 rules 4 and 5 of the Civil Procedure Rules 2010; the defects could not be cured by amendment.
  • Chigiti J: drafting of pleadings is regulated by Order 2 of the Civil Procedure Rules, which does not authorise AI-generated content.
  • Chigiti J: use of AI confers an unfair advantage on one party and undermines the adversarial system; the integrity of the process is compromised when unknown tools influence judicial outcomes (Article 48, Constitution of Kenya).
  • Orders: the 23 December 2025 judgment set aside and the application struck out with costs against the applicant.

Version history

VersionDateWhat changedSource
Ruling striking out AI-generated application (Mwamuye J)current2026-03-06Notice of motion and supporting affidavit found machine-generated and struck out for breach of Order 51 rule 13 and Order 19 rules 4-5 of the Civil Procedure Rules; defects held incurable by amendment, fresh compliant filing permitted. The Kenya Law page for the April 2026 ruling returned 404 on 4 September 2026 and the account rests partly on press reports, so this record is unverified.official
Ruling setting aside the 23 December 2025 judgment (Chigiti J)2026-04-16Judgment of 23 December 2025 set aside; the AI-founded application struck out with costs against the applicant.official

Sources

Cite this record

SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "High Court of Kenya rulings on AI-generated pleadings: Savla v Commission on Administrative Justice and the April 2026 set-aside" (High Court of Kenya at Milimani, Ruling striking out AI-generated application (Mwamuye J), 2026-03-06), safelegalai.com/regulation/other/ke-hc-savla-ai-pleadings-rulings (accessed 2026-09-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.

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