LEGAL PRINCIPLE: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE — Arraignment — Presumption of Compliance — Judicial Presumption That Trial Judge Satisfied Herself
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
The law presumes that the learned trial Judge complied with section 215 CPL. While the presumption is rebuttable, the burden of rebuttal falls on the appellants.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Tobi, JSC, in Solola & Anor v. State (2005) NLC-2682003(SC) at pp. 24–25; Paras D–B.
"It is an elementary law that the provision of a section should be interpreted in the light of the factual situation in the matter before the court and not in vacuo or in vacuum. A judge is a man of law and therefore an expert in the construction or interpretation of the law. In the circumstances, our adjectival law can rightly presume that the learned trial Judge complied with the provision of section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Law, 1978. While I agree that the presumption is rebuttable, the rebuttal in this case falls on the appellants."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Presumption of compliance with section 215 CPL applies; accused bears rebuttal burden. The principle applies to criminal procedure.
