LEGAL PRINCIPLE: ARBITRATION LAW — Arbitral Awards — Conversion of Award into Court’s Judgment — Court Lacks Jurisdiction to Make Arbitral Award Its Own Judgment
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
The court has no power to make an arbitral award its own judgment because the award already has the status of a judgment by law and does not require any act on the part of the court to acquire that status.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Katsina-Alu, JSC, in Ras Palgazi Construction Company Limited v. FCDA (2001) NLC-4596(SC) at pp. 9–10; Paras A–B.
"There is nothing in the provision of S. 31 of the Act which empowers the court to make the arbitral award the judgment of the trial court. That section of the Act in my view had already given the arbitral award the status of a judgment of a court of law and as such it does not require any act on the part of the trial court to make the arbitral award acquire that status which had already been conferred by law. It is quite plain therefore that the trial court had no power to make the arbitral award its own judgment, particularly when it did not itself adjudicate on the dispute between the parties which dispute the parties decided to submit to arbitration after refusing to file their pleadings in court."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
The court lacks jurisdiction to convert an arbitral award into its own judgment. The award already has the force of a judgment by operation of law upon filing. The court cannot add or subtract from the award. The court’s role is limited to enforcement, not adoption. Attempting to “make” the award a court judgment exceeds the court’s powers under the Arbitration Act. The principle preserves the finality of arbitration. The award is not a consent judgment or a settlement; it is a determination by the arbitrator. The court cannot re-adjudicate the dispute. The losing party must challenge the award through the statutory process, not by asking the court to reject or remake it.