LEGAL PRINCIPLE: LAND LAW – Registered Land – Plea of Bona Fide Purchaser for Value Without Notice Where Deed Transfers No Title
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
The plea of bona fide purchaser for value without notice is useless where the deed of purchase or the transaction transfers no estate or title.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Ogundare, JSC, in Braimah v. Abasi & Anor (1998) NLC-1221992(SC) at pp. 21; Paras D–E.
"The thing to point out here is that a person putting forward the plea that he is a valuable purchaser for valuable consideration without notice almost invariably does so to protect the estate he has transferred to him. But where the deed of purchase or the transaction upon which the plea is founded transfers or confers no estate or title the plea is absolutely useless."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
The bona fide purchaser defence requires that the transaction itself is valid. If the deed transfers no title, the defence fails. The principle applies to registered and unregistered land. The purchaser must have acquired a legal interest. The rule protects true owners. The court will examine the validity of the transaction. The defence cannot cure a defective title.
