LEGAL PRINCIPLE: LAND LAW — Land Use Act — Grant of Statutory Right of Occupancy — Invalidity of Later Grant Without Prior Revocation
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
For a Certificate of Occupancy under the Land Use Act to be valid, there must not be in existence at the time the certificate was issued a statutory owner of the land in dispute who was not divested of the existing legal interest to the land prior to that grant.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Kalgo, JSC, in Ibrahim v. Mohammed (2003) NLC-591997(SC) at p. 13; Paras D–E.
"For a Certificate of Occupancy under the Land Use Act to be valid therefore, there must not be in existence at the time the certificate was issued a statutory owner of the land in dispute who was not divested of the existing legal interest to the land prior to that grant."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
A later grant is invalid if a prior owner’s interest was not divested. The principle applies to land under the Land Use Act. The rule protects vested rights. The grantor cannot give what he does not have. The principle is well-established.