CORAM
COKER, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
LEWIS, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
UDOMA, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
MADARIKAN, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
SOWEMIMO, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
PARTIES
JOHN KOBINA SEYE JOHNSON & ORS APPELLANTS
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The property in dispute was left by one Salu Ariyo who died testate. The receiver, acting in pursuance of an order of court, sold the parcel of land to one Emmanuel Johnson. The land also lies within the stool lands of the Oloto Chieftaincy Family who has conveyed the land to various owners with the respondents being the current owner with certificate of title duly endorsed.
HELD
The Court declared that the recital in the document, exhibit M, vis-a-vis the proceedings, carries no presumption in favour of the appellants in as much as it is neither referred nor referrable to any contract occurring at least 20 years, posterior to the date of its execution.
ISSUES
The only point now being decided at this stage of the appeal is the meaning of section 129 of the Evidence Act
RATIONES DECIDENDI
THE 20 YEARS PRESUMPTION RULE
The plain position is that the occurrence in the course of the title of a deed more than 20 years old when the contract of sale is in hand of statements of fact or recitals material to the prior title, will be prima facie evidence in favour of that prior title and unless disputed will be sufficient evidence of those statements of fact or recitals. Per Coker, JSC
LITERAL RULE OF INTERPRETATION
It is the alphabet of his study to every lawyer that in the exercise of statutory construction words must first be given their ordinary and natural meaning and no words should be discarded or regarded as surplusage without sound reasons. Per Coker, JSC
CASES CITED
Maurice Goualin Ltd. and Anor. v. Wahabi Alanda Aminu (Privy Council appeal No. 17 of 1957)
Bolton v. London School Board (1878) 7 Ch D 766
Re Wallis and Grouts contract (1906) 2 Ch. 206
Odeneye v. Savage
Nuru Williams v. Adamo Akinwunmi,
Isaac Sylvanus John v. Hector O. Adebanlo,
Samuel A. Omosanya v. A.G. Anifowoshe (1950) 4 FSC. 94
STATUTES REFERRED TO
Vendor and Purchaser Act, 1874