LEGAL PRINCIPLE: EQUITY AND TRUSTS – Acquiescence – Stranger Building on Another’s Land With Knowledge – No Bar to Owner’s Claim
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
If a stranger builds on my land knowing it to be mine, there is no principle of equity which would prevent my claiming the land with the benefit of the expenditure made on it. There would be nothing in my conduct active or passive making it inequitable in me to assert my legal rights.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Onu, JSC, in Kayode v. Odutola (2001) NLC-1451997(SC) at p. 12; Paras C–D.
"If a stranger builds on my land knowing it to be mine, there is no principle of equity which would prevent my claiming the land with the benefit of the expenditure made on it. There would be nothing in my conduct active or passive making it inequitable in me to assert my legal rights."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
A stranger who builds on another’s land knowing it belongs to the owner cannot claim equity to prevent the owner from asserting rights. The owner may claim the land with the benefit of the expenditure. The stranger’s knowledge negates any claim of encouragement or misrepresentation. The owner’s conduct—active or passive—does not make it inequitable to assert legal rights. Equity aids the vigilant, not those who deliberately encroach on others’ property. The trespasser takes the risk. The principle prevents knowing trespassers from profiting from their own wrongdoing. No duty to warn exists where the trespasser knows the land belongs to another.
