CORAM
COKER, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
UDOMA, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
OBASEKE, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
PARTIES
GOLD ATITI APPELLANTS
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The High Court on appeal decided to rehear the case but relied on the evidence of a witness given before the Customary Court Grade B 1 in awarding title to the land in dispute to the respondent.
HELD
The court held that the High Court was wrong to have attached probative value to evidence of a witness who did not testify before him in dismissing the appellants appeal and ordered the matter to be remitted to the Customary Court having jurisdiction for rehearing.
ISSUES
Whether in the circumstances of this case the learned Chief Justice of the High Court on appeal was competent to consult and make use of evidence not given before him.
RATIONES DECIDENDI
RIGHT OF APPELATE COURT REHEARING A CASE TO RELY ON EVIDENCE GIVEN BY ANOTHER COURT
if a particular witness does not give evidence before a judge on appeal when he is re-hearing the case as a whole, he cannot justifiably treat his earlier evidence as evidence before himself and it would be insupportable on his own part to attach any probative value to such evidence whether it had been earlier on appraised by or before another tribunal or not. Per Coker J.S.C
CASES CITED
Akaigbe v. Idama (1964) N.L.R. 322
Craig v. Craig [1967] N.M.L.R. 52
STATUTES REFERRED TO
The Customary Courts Law, Cap. 31 Laws of the Western Region of Nigeria, 1959