LEGAL PRINCIPLE: APPELLATE PRACTICE — Judicial Precedent — Court of Co-ordinate Jurisdiction — Impropriety of Overruling Earlier Decision Without Conflicting Authority
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
The Court of Appeal was wrong to have overturned the decision of a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction without conflicting authority.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Ejiwunmi, JSC, in Ekpuk v. Okon (2005) NLC-722002(SC) at pp. 12–13; Paras E–A.
"By that decision, it is manifest that the Court of Appeal clearly overturned the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal, which had refused to grant that order to the respondent for the reasons given. I must therefore hold that having regard to the principles enunciated above, the submission of learned counsel for the appellant that the Court of Appeal was wrong to have overturned the decision of a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction was right."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Court of co-ordinate jurisdiction cannot overrule an earlier decision without conflicting authority. The principle applies to judicial precedent.