Sockna Mormodu Allie And Ors V. Ahmed Alhadi As Official Administrator (1950)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal

Claim for revocation of will—Allegation of forgery against a beneficiary notparty to action—Proceedings stayed and referred to Attorney-General to considercriminal prosecution—Application for new trial on grounds of proceedingswrongly stayed and Judge influenced by decision of Attorney-General not toProsecute—Evidence sufficient to justify trial Judge’s conclusions.

Facts

The plaintiffs were the appellants. The appellants instituted an action against the Administrator-General claiming to have a will revoked on the grounds that one of the principal beneficiaries had forged the will. The trial Court stayed the proceedings and referred them to the Attorney-General to consider whether a criminal prosecution should be instituted against the said beneficiary. The Attorney-General decided not to prosecute and the Court upheld Will.

Counsel for the appellants argued that the Judge wrongly stayed the proceedings and that this error was a ground for a retrial asserting that this error caused the Judge to mis-direct himself, in that he was influenced by the opinion of the Attorney-General. Counsel further argued that the decision was against the weight of evidence.

Held

As the action was against the Administrator-General and there was no allegation that he had forged Will the Judge was wrong in staying the proceedings because the obligation which the law imposes on a person to prosecute does not apply where the action is against a third party innocent of the felony. The error occasioned no miscarriage of justice because the Judge clearly showed in his judgment that he was no way influenced by the Attorney-General’s opinion. There was sufficient evidence to justify the conclusions at which the trial Court arrived. A retrial was accordingly refused.

Appeal dismissed.