LEGAL PRINCIPLE: APPELLATE PRACTICE — Concurrent Findings of Fact — Interference by Appellate Court
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
It is not the function of an appellate court to substitute its own views for those of a court of first instance with respect to facts found by the court and based on a dispassionate appraisal of the evidence before it.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Ayoola, JSC, in A.G., Ekiti State & Ors v. Daramola & Ors (2003) NLC-1002000(SC) at p. 8; Paras A–C.
"It is by now a well known principle of our law that it is not the function of an appellate court to substitute its own views for those of a court of first instance with respect to facts found by the court and based on a dispassionate appraisal of the evidence before it."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Appellate courts defer to trial court findings of fact. The principle applies to all appeals. The trial court has the advantage of seeing witnesses. The rule promotes finality. The appellate court will not substitute its own view. The principle is well-established.