KOSUN EPI & ANOR VS JOHNNY AIGBEDION

CORAM

ELIAS CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA

FATAYI-WILLIAMS JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

SOWEMIMO JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

PARTIES

OKOSUN EPI IKHAULOGHE EPI APPELLANTS

RESPONDENTS

AREA(S) OF LAW

SUMMARY OF FACTS

The plaintiffs grandfather deforested the land in dispute, on his death the plaintiffs father inherited it and then the plaintiff inherited same upon his fathers death. The plaintiffs grandfather (Ikhine), out of compassion, gave one Epi after Epis death, two of his children (the defendants) went outside the portion of land granted to them by the plaintiffs grandfather.

HELD

The court held that the appeal succeeds and it is allowed. The judgment of Aghogbhovbia, J., in Suit No. U/30/66 delivered in the High Court, Ubiaja, on 18th July, 1969, including the order as to costs, is accordingly set aside… The plaintiff/respondent is therefore non-suited with costs.

ISSUES

Whether the plaintiff was entitled to his claims having failed to prove the boundaries of the land he is claiming.

RATIONES DECIDENDI

CONDITIONS BEFORE DECLARATION OF TITLE CAN BE GRANTED

“It is also trite law that before a declaration of title is granted, the land to which it relates must be identified with certainty.” A. FATAYI-WILLIAMS, JSC.

PROOF OF DECLARATION OF TITLE

“Where a plaintiff in an action for declaration of title fails, …to prove the boundaries of the land he is claiming, he has failed, by that omission, to prove his case; the proper order which the court should make in such circumstances is usually one of dismissal of the claim.” A. FATAYI-WILLIAMS, JSC.