Legal Principles – Nigerian LawCompass

Appellate Practice Important

APPELLATE PRACTICE — Rules of Court — Compliance — Rules Not Made for Fun

"It is elementary law that rules of court must be obeyed or complied with, as they are not made for fun. Rules of court are meant to be complied with...

Constitutional Law Important

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — Section 8(5) of 1999 Constitution — New Local Government Areas Cannot Become Operative Without National Assembly’s Consequential Act

"The Laws enacted by Lagos State that is Law No. 5 of 2002 and the 2004 Law are both valid Laws since the House of Assembly of Lagos State has...

Equity and Trusts Important

EQUITY AND TRUSTS — Merger — Mortgages — Deeds of Same Nature Not Merged by Further Advances

"In the present case, there was no question of the principle of merger operating because all the said exhibits 4, D1 and 5 are deeds of mortgage which are securities...

Banking Law Important

BANKING LAW — Interest — Clause Permitting Bank to Stipulate Rate — Compound Interest Permitted

"The provision of clause 3 of the mortgage agreements is clear and unambiguous. It is possible to understand and apply it as it stands. There was, therefore, no necessity to...

Evidence Law Important

EVIDENCE LAW — Proof of Title to Land — Identity of Land — Necessity of Survey Plan

"Though there is no law or practice which establishes that a plan is a sine qua non to identify land being claimed, yet there must be some clear description to...

Evidence Law Important

EVIDENCE LAW — Proof of Title to Land — Five Methods — Independence of Methods

"It is now well settled that each of the five ways of proving title to land (traditional evidence; production of documents of title duly authenticated; acts of possession and ownership...

Evidence Law Important

EVIDENCE LAW — Proof of Title to Land — Documentary Evidence — Presumption Under Section 130 Evidence Act

"Recitals, statements, and descriptions of facts, matters, and parties contained in deeds, instruments, Acts of the National Assembly, or statutory declarations, twenty years old at the date of the contract,...

Evidence Law Important

EVIDENCE LAW — Proof of Title to Land — Declaration of Title — Grantor’s Root of Title

"Where in a claim for declaration of title to interest in land a party bases its title on a grant according to custom by a particular person, family or community,...

Evidence Law Important

EVIDENCE LAW — Possession — What Constitutes Exclusive Possession — Uncultivated Land

"Their Lordships do not consider that in order to establish possession it is necessary for a claimant to take some active step in relation to the land such as enclosing...

Civil Procedure Important

CIVIL PROCEDURE — Pleadings — Parties Bound by Pleadings — Evidence at Variance with Pleadings

"It is a settled principle of our law that parties are bound by their pleadings. It is also the duty of counsel to object to inadmissible evidence, but if despite...

Appellate Practice Important

CIVIL PROCEDURE — Appellate Practice — Order of Retrial — When Appropriate

"Where an appellate court is in a position, after considering the evidence, to do complete justice between the parties an order for a new trial should not be made; the...

Civil Procedure Important

CIVIL PROCEDURE — Notice of Cross-Motion — Process Not Known to Law

"A court process which is filed but not known to law, in my humble view, is null and void ab initio. I can still move further. If the court process...