APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF NIGERIAN COURTS IN CIVIL MATTERS
APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF NIGERIAN COURTS IN CIVIL MATTERS
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Date
1979
Authors
USMAN, ABDULLAHI
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Abstract
The majority of appellants and some appellate
courts are ignorant or oblivious of the proper rules
of appeal as a result of which a lot of injustices
and caprices are associated with appeals; leading to
the miscarriage of justice. It is in view of this
that the topic of this thesis, namely, "Appellate
Jurisdiction of Nigerian Courts in Civil Matters,
has been chosen.
This study is to present and analyse the nature
and extent of the practices and proceedings of
appeals in our courts in sivil matters and to show
the need for the impartial application of the rules
of appeal with the hope that justice would be duly
administered to all parties concerned in accordance
with the provisions of the law applicable to appeals
with the view of avoiding miscarriage of justice0
The study is composed of six chapters. Chapter
one is an introduction consisting of nature of appeals,
objectives and scope of the thesis as well as the
method of approach adopted.
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Chapter two discusses civil appeals in the
Upper Area Court which include the historical
background of the court, its appellate jurisdiction
and procedural matters with regard to appeals in the
court. The chapter will also look into civil appeals
in the customary Court of Appeal and discuss,
generally, application of Customary Law, Historical
background of the Courts, its appellate jurisdiction
and constitution as well as procedures on appeal to
the courto
Chapter three examines civil appeals in the
High Court and the Sharia Court of Appeal. With
regard to the High Court, there will be a brief
historical outline of the court, its applicable
legislation in respect of appeals, procedure for
appeals, how additional evidence will be entertained
and the powers of the court. Furthermore, the
chapter will deal with brief history of the Sharia
Court of Appeal, the applicable legislation, appellate
jurisdiction of the court and the procedure for appeal.
Chapter four is entirely devoted to examination
of civil appeals in the court of Appeal and it
includes a historical outline of the court, the
applicable legislation, appellate jurisdiction, appeals
as of right and appeals with leave. Other areas of
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discussion in the chapter include statutory exclusion
of jurisdiction, coram, jurisdiction to grant
interlocutory relief, the "entering" of appeals,
conditions and procedure of appeals, powers of the
court as well as judgment and orders.
Chapter five expounds civil appeals in the
Supreme Court. This includes historical background
of the court, applicable legislation, its appellate
jurisdiction, commencement of proceedings, Notice of
appeal, right of appeal, appeal with leave, appeal
out of time, record of appeal, filing of briefs,
jurisdiction pertaining to interlocutory decision,
jurisdiction with regard to final decision, conditions
and procedure of appeals, powers of the Supreme Court
as well as orders and reviews.
Chapter six concludes the thesis by giving a
brief summary of what has been discussed in the rest
of the chapters, some observations with regard to
application of the rules of appeal and, thus,
suggestion proferred with the hope that the rules of
appeal would be duly applied in that spirit of
impartiality which it requires in order to avoid
miscarriage of justice and misuse of judicial powers
Description
LL.M. THESIS 1997
Keywords
APPELLATE,, JURISDICTION,, NIGERIAN,, COURTS,, CIVIL MATTERS