Principle Archive

A right of appeal is not a matter of "tokenism." It is an important and overriding right which enables the appellate court to consider with gravity…

An appellate court will interfere with a trial court's appraisal of facts if it is unreasonable or perverse, or if the trial court did not properly…

All appeals are by way of rehearing on the issues raised before the appellate court. There is no way the appellate court can perform its constitutional…

Where the issue before the court centres on the assessment or consideration of documentary evidence tendered in the proceedings, as distinct from the credibility of witnesses,…

The courts have the competence to examine whether a chieftaincy declaration is really in conformity with prevailing customary law and to declare it invalid if it…

Only human beings who are actually called to the Nigerian Bar and whose names appear on the roll of legal practitioners are entitled to practice as…

A court process signed by a firm name alone (e.g., "J.H.C. Okolo SAN & Co.") without the individual name and signature of a named legal practitioner…

For a person to be qualified to practice as a legal practitioner in Nigeria, he must have his name on the roll of legal practitioners. A…

Before the High Court of a State can have jurisdiction in an action for publication of a libelous article, the publication must have taken place within…

There is a clear distinction between territorial jurisdiction (whether a suit ought to have been brought in one State but was brought in another) and venue…

Where a court raises issues suo motu (on its own motion), the parties must be given equal opportunity to address the court on such issues. Failure…

It is the act of publication of defamatory material that constitutes the cause of action in libel. Publication is an essential element of the cause of…