Principle Archive

The power given to the President and State Governors under Section 315 of the Constitution to modify existing laws is not an abuse of the doctrine…

Section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution requires that only the three tiers of government—Federal Government, State Governments, and Local Government Councils—shall be the first-line beneficiaries of…

The word "modification" in the Constitution includes addition, alteration, omission, or repeal. The President's power under Section 315(2) to modify existing laws goes beyond mere "dotting…

It is wrong to say that an act done in disobedience of a court order is an illegality. "Illegality" connotes an infraction of law as contradistinguished…

It is trite law that the court is without the power to award to a claimant that which he did not claim.

When a plaintiff is found not to have standing to sue, the question whether other issues in the case had been properly determined or not does…

Where findings of fact are a result of inferences drawn from facts primarily found by the trial court, the appellate court is at liberty to form…

It is not the function of an appellate court to substitute its own views for those of a court of first instance with respect to facts…

Where a party's case has inconsistencies or contradictions, the court is not obliged to arrange for oral evidence to resolve them. The onus is on the…

Oral evidence cannot be used to contradict, alter, or vary a written contract. Any separate or subsequent oral agreement must be distinctly pleaded and specifically proved.

Where a contract is to be performed outside Nigeria, the Nigerian court lacks territorial jurisdiction over a claim arising from that contract, unless the contract was…

The issue of whether a plaintiff's action is properly within jurisdiction or justiciable can be determined even on the endorsement of the writ of summons, as…