EVIDENCE LAW — Documentary Evidence — Survey Plan — Effect of Failure to Tender Pleaded Survey Plan Where Identity of Land in Dispute
Ratio Decidendi
Per Tobi, JSC, in Aremu v. Adetoro (2007) NLC-123-418-2001(SC) at p. 11; Paras A–C:
"Where a plaintiff pleads a survey plan, he must tender the plan at the trial. Where he fails to do so, the court is entitled to invoke section 149(d) of the Evidence Act 'that evidence which could be and is not produced would, if produced, be unfavourable to the person who withholds it.'"
Explanation / Scope
A plaintiff who pleads a survey plan must tender it at trial, especially where the identity of the land is in dispute. Failure to tender a pleaded survey plan allows the court to draw an adverse inference under section 149(d) of the Evidence Act—that the evidence would have been unfavourable to the party withholding it.