THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE UNDER NIGERIA LAW
THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE UNDER NIGERIA LAW
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Date
1996-05-14
Authors
KANAM, S. M. G.
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Abstract
In Nigeria, the period immediately after independence
to date has witnessed tremendous upsurge in commercial and
i n d u s t r i a l developments. The number of t r a f f i c s on our
Roads also kept increasing day in day out. All these
achievements are not without t h e i r negative aspects. For
example, in the industrial rector, there are the hazards of
people getting maimed or incapacitated for l i f e if care is
not taken in ensuring the safety of t h e i r places of work
because of the dangercue nature of the machines normally
i n s t a l l e d for used in such places and atimes even the nature
of the place I t s e l f.
In the area of business transsctioncspecially between
companies and companies, between companies and individuals
or between individuals intense the exercise of duetcare and
deligence is also very relevant otherwise financial or
economic loss may be sustained by one of the parties to such
transactions. Thus, for example where two parties sffree that
all documents, drafts, b i l l s of lidding turn invoices in
connection to a certain business transaction between them
are to be drawn in favour of one of them but the other party
negligently and in breach of the agreement directed that
such documents should be drawn in favour of a different
person,then the affected party is e n t i t l e to i n s t i t u t e an
action to claim damages for the loss suffered as a r e s u lt
of the negligent act of the other party. Again there are
instances when some one w i l l , before embarking on any
business transaction or before concluding any agreement with
any one with regsrd to any business, f i r s t of all aeek the
advise of people whom he believe have enough experience in
such business or are professionals (such as lawyers) on haw
to go about the business or on what needed to be done before
the agreement la concluded. Here too, proper care must be
exercised in offering such advise inorder that the seeker
of the advise does not sustain l o s s . Similarly, large
number of cars that ply our orads day end night entail great
danger to human l i f e if proper care is not taken in t h e ir
management on the roads. Infect there la hardly any human
a c t i v i t y today that does not require the exercise of care
and dellgence in i t s performance.
The choice of t h i s topic i . e . 'the tort of negligence
under Nigerian Law1 la therefore predicated upon the above
brief analysis, since negligence is the product of lack of
the exercise of care or dellgence in the performance of %
c e r t a i n thing. And the objective of the research is that
of making i t ' s resders aware of their rights concerning
any harm or loss they may sustained as a result of someones
lack of the exercise of care and also for them to know the
possible defences their opponents amy raise in denial of
t h e i r claims so that they will know how to take care of
them. The research alao seta out to investigate the applic
a b i l i t y or otherwise of the imported English Common Laws in
Nigeria.
The work is divided into five chapters. In chapter
shall
one, we shall discuss the duty of care. Here, we/strive
towards revealing when someone is under a duty to exercise
due care and deligence towards others and the consequences
of ones failure to exercise such duty. Sub-topics such
resenable foreseability, duty of care and financial and
economic loss, negligent misstatement and financial or
economic loss and nervous shock.
In chapter two we shall be discussing by way of
i l l u s t r a t i o n s certain persons and organisations that owe
duty of care to others in the conduct of their affairs or
in the course of their operations. We shall in particulardiscuss
Lawyers, Doctors and Bankers as our i l l u s t r a t i o n s.
We shall end the discussion in the chapter by discussing the
standard of care to be exhibited by persons especially with
regard to the kind of activity undertaken, the type of
person involved, the difficulty or otherwise in bringing the
situation under control and whether the person from whom the
duty is required to be exercised is a professional or not.
Chapter three of the work shall deal with remoteness
of damages. Under this chapter we shall be discussing
instances when even though a person is negligent with regard
to performance or non performance of a certain duty or
function, yet his i n a b i l i t y is not the fundamental cause of
loss or injury sustained by the complinant. Two principal
t e s t of remoteness of damages viz the direct consequences
t e s t and the foresenbility t e s t shall be our main sub-topics
in t h i s chapter. Under them we shall also discuss the
egg-shell skull r u l e , extent of harm rule, to the extraneous
matters rule, manner of occurrence of damage and the type
of harm respectively.
Chapter four of the work shall be aentred on the
principal defences to l i a b i l i t y in negligence. This include
contributory negligence, volenti non f i t injuria, inevitable
accident and limitation of action.
Finally, in the concluding chapter, i . e . chapter five,
a summary of the whole work shall be made, observations
concerning the adequacy or otherwise of the law or i t 's
implementation shall also be made and based on our
observation Appropriate suggestions or recommendations
shall be made on how to improve the law or how best to
implement it.
Description
Department of Private Law
Keywords
TORT,, NEGLIGENCE,, UNDER,, NIGERIA LAW