Mewi Onyeanwi, Stephen Mbaochu & Ors V. Jonathan Okpukpara & Ors (1953)
LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal
Evidence—Rules applicable—Entry in public record—Evidence Ordinance (Cap. 63), sections 1 (2) and 38.
Facts
The above section 1 (2) provides that “ This Ordinance shall apply to all judicial proceedings in or before any court established in Nigeria but it shall not apply . . .
“(c) to judicial proceedings in or beiore a Native Court unless the Governor in Council shall by order confer upon any or all Native Courts jurisdiction to enforce any or all of the provisions of this Ordinance.”
And the above section 38 provides that:—
“An entry in any public or other official book, register or record, stating a fact in issue or relevant fact and made by a public servant in the discharge of his official duty, or by any other person in performance of a duty specially enjoined by the law of the country in which such book, register or record is kept, is itself a relevant fact.”
In these cross-actions relating to a piece of land, an entry in the minute book of a meeting of the Native Authority responsible for the land including the piece in dispute was admitted; it stated that out of eighty-eight members only three opposed the proposal that the Leper Clinic be given a name chosen on the ground that the Clinic had been erected on land belonging to the first respondent’s people.
The trial Judge admitted the entry under section 38 of the Evidence Ordinance (Cap. 63), saying besides that “ To reject such evidence would be to exclude a type of evidence which is admitted in the Native Courts ”. The appellants argued that he erred in admitting the entry (and this headnote deals with that point only).
Held
The entry was admissible under section 38 of the Evidence Ordinance.
Per curiam: The tact that certain evidence is admissible in a Native Court is not a valid ground for admitting it in the Supreme Court; it is the Evidence Ordinance, or, if it is silent, the common law of England, which applies in the Supreme Court; but that Ordinance does not apply in Native Courts unless the Governor in Council so authorises.
Appeal dismissed.
