ARNOLD NWAFIA VS NWANAKUO UBUBA
September 2, 2025OMUFEREN UYOVBARIA AND ORS VS CHIEF M. KPOROARO AND ANOR
September 2, 2025Legalpedia Citation: (1966-03) Legalpedia 48789 (SC)
In the Supreme Court of Nigeria
Holden At Abuja
Fri Mar 4, 1966
Suit Number: SC 238/1964
CORAM
BRETT JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
ONYEAMA JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
AJEGBO JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
PARTIES
LAMIDI OGBO FAKOYA
APPELLANTS
ST. PAUL’S CHURCH, SHAGAMU
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
LAND LAW-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE-EQUITY
SUMMARY OF FACTS
This is an appeal against the judgment of the Western Region High Court granting specific performance of a contract for the sale of land, and directing the original appellant, Lamidi Ogbo Fakoya, to execute a conveyance of the land to the respondents.
HELD
That the personal obligations created by a contract for the sale of land are already known to the parties to the contract and neither party can maintain against the other party that he was taken by surprise because the contract was not registered.
ISSUES
Whether Exhibit A was rightly admitted or not?
RATIONES DECIDENDI
MEANING OF SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE-
The basis of the remedy of specific performance is not the conversion of an equitable interest into a legal interest, but the enforcement of a contract where damages would not afford a complete remedy, and although specific performance is more frequently granted where the contract is for the sale of land than in other cases, this is not because of any distinction between the jural nature of a right to purchase land and other contractual rights but because damages are less often a complete remedy for the breach of a contract for the sale of land than for the breach of other contracts. Per Brett, J.S.C.
CASES CITED
South Eastern Railway Co. v. Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers [ 1910] 1 Ch.
Hutton v. Walling [1948] Ch. 26
STATUTES REFERRED TO
