The legislation history and amendment history of the republished law are set out in endnotes. Full advanced text search, for sections and keywords. Authorised by the act parliamentary counselalso accessible at. As nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate easter amid the global outbreak of coronavirus covid19, deputy president of the senate. Click to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of the latest supreme court cases by email. The topic under surveillance is an appraisal of hearsay rule in nigeria and so it goes beyond a mere determination of what the hearsay rule translates to and touches on the actual working and operation of the rule within contemporary nigerian society. Annotated provides interpretation, commentary and analysis of each section of the law of evidence act, as well as relevant case law. Short title this act may be cited as the evidence act. Whether the nigerian police is exempted from taking legal fees from persons requiring certification of documents in its the police custody. E14, laws of the federation of nigeria, and enacts a new evidence act, which shall apply to all judicial proceedings in or before courts in nigeria. As shown in the paper, it was possible under section 5a of the repealed act for courts in nigeria to rely on common law rules of evidence to. General principles and requirements for advertising in nigeria. Yet unresolved is the problem of authenticity of the electronic documentary evidence. Nigeria freedom of information act 2011 and its implication.
Challenges and admissibility of electronically generated. Nigeria freedom of information act 2011 and its implication for records and office security management ayuba a. Admissibility of computergenerated evidence under nigerias new evidence act, 2011 international journal of legal information vol. Pdf an illumination of the concepts of corroborating. Section 84 sets out the requirements for admissibility of certain types of. Thus, it could be said that the repeal of the old evidence act, cap e14 laws of the federation of nigeria 2004 hereinafter referred to simply as evidence act. For instance, tendering of electronic mails emails was normally as contentious and acrimonious as the litigation itself, with the opposite party usually relying on, inter alia, the hearsay rule under the old evidence act 1945, to forestall the. Appraisal of admissibility of electronic evidence in legal. The evidence act 2011 is remarkable in that it is a significant attempt to address the multitude of inadequacies in the old law. Therefore, there is paucity of he admissibility of electronic evidence in nigeria or the use of electronic evidence in legal proceedings. Yet, there is this air of informality which is publicly associated with electronic data unlike its hard copy counterparts. Nigerian evidence act 2011 for android apk download. Doc an appraisal of the evidence act 2011 hon justice.
Malgwi2, bulama kagu3 and ibrahim danjuma4 1 department of business management, university of maiduguri nigeria 2 bursary department, university of maiduguri, 3department of education, university of maiduguri. Be that as it may, this section of the article will make use of a few nigerian cases which highlight the utility of electronic. The nigerian evidence act 2011 tomiwa olasiyans blog. In its explanatory memorandum, the evidence act, 2011 repealed the 1945 evidence act, cap. Nigeria up until the enactment of the new evidence act in 2011. Evidence act 2011, laws of the federation of nigeria. Admissibility of computer generated evidence in nigeria, by. May 26, 2015 evidence in relation to the use of the computer must be called to establish the conditions set out under section 842 of the evidence act 2011. Dec 10, 2016 under the evidence act, 2011 there is a clear statutory interpretation of the two contentious words and this has cured the inadequacy of the repealed section 2 of the evidence act, 2004, which did not expressly include a computer output and the nondefinition of the word computer. It is multisegment free access center for intelligence and instruments relating to nigerias legal and policy circuit. The evidence act 2011 also referred to as the act came into force on 3 june 2011 when it received the assent of the president of the federal republic of nigeria as it contains no commencement date. This article focuses on section 84 of the evidence act, 2011 and it seeks to bring to fore the existing alternative to filing a certificate of complianceidentification when a counsel intends to tender a computer generated document in evidence during trial. Aug 02, 20 the evidence act 2011 also referred to as the act came into force on 3 june 2011 when it received the assent of the president of the federal republic of nigeria as it contains no commencement date.
Application 1 this act shall apply to all judicial proceedings in or before any court other. Evidence act, 2011 this act repeals the evidence act. Jul 18, 2017 the conditions which made a confession not to be voluntary were defined by the provisions of section 28 of the repealed evidence act but the conditions which will make a confession to be regarded as unreliable are not limited by section 29 of the evidence act 2011. With the nascent evidentiary rules introduced by the evidence act, 2011, the shortcomings that existed in the above cases no longer arise because section 51 of the evidence act, 2011 now succinctly provides that entries in books of accounts or electronic records regularly kept in the course of business are admissible whether they refer to a. The advantages of the various progressions in the aforesaid technology had aroused varied deliberations and judicial precariousness in nigeria up until the enactment of the new evidence act in 2011 which is yielding its. Relevancy and admissibility of facts under nigerian law of. Doc admissibility of electronic evidence under section 84. Pdf the nigerian law of evidence is essentially statutory and this has.
Under the evidence act, 2011 there is a clear statutory interpretation of the two contentious words and this has cured the inadequacy of the repealed section 2 of the evidence act, 2004, which did not expressly include a computer output and the nondefinition of the word computer. An act to repeal the evidence act, cap e 14 laws of the federation of nigeria and enact a new evidence act which shall apply to all judicial. Unarguably, if any piece of legislation is to remain useful, it must as far as i. Having firmly and solemnly resolve, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under god, dedicated to the promotion of interafrican solidarity, world peace, international cooperation and understanding. The nigerian law of evidence is essentially statutory and this has been so since the evidence act 1943 was passed into law in what was then known as the colony and protectorate of nigeria. Nigerian evidence act annotated in searchworks catalog. Critical analysis of character evidence in nigeria term paper. It was made applicable in nigeria on 1st of june 1945. Part i general 1 evidence may be given of facts in issue and relevant facts. Evidence act, 2011 latest nigerian supreme court cases. The evidence act of 2011 contains the bulk of general rules relating to corroborating evidence made applicable to and admissible in proceedings in nigerian courts. The 2011 election season in nigeria, which kicked off on april 9 with the national assembly polls, followed by presidential elections on april 19, is in its final stretch.
E14, laws of the federation of nigeria, and enacts a new evidence act, 2011 which applies to all judicial proceedings in or before courts in nigeria. E14, laws of the federation of nigeria, 2004 and enacts a new evidence act, 2011 which applies to all judicial proceedings in or before courts in nigeria. It is a common law doctrine previously admissible under section 5a of the old evidence act. As nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate easter amid the global outbreak of coronavirus covid19, deputy president of the senate, senator ovie omoagege has called on the citiz. Doc admissibility of electronic evidence under section. Court, give his evidence from the witness box or other place from which the other witnesses give their evidence. This is a republication of the evidence act 2011 including any amendment made under the. The law of evidence in nigeria is a replica of the english law of evidence around 1943. In criminal cases, previous good character relevant.
Law of evidence in nigeria, 2nd edition, published in 20, is based on the provisions of the nigerian evidence act, 2011. Dec 02, 2011 an act to repeal the nigerian evidence act chapter e14, laws of the federation of nigeria, and enact a new nigerian evidence act, which shall apply to all judicial proceedings in or before courts in nigeria. Prominent features of the book include an indepth discussion, backed with very current case and statutory law, of nagging issues in the law of evidence, like admissibility of computergenerated evidence generated from conventional computers, gsms, atm machines. Evidence act 2011 table of provisions long title chapter 1preliminary part 1. Admissibility of electronically generated evidence in nigeria. The evidence must be tailored to suit the needs of the case. Remoral of incapacity to tstity from crime or mteresr 3. Evidence act, 2011 explanatory memorandum this act repeals the evidence act, cap. Nigerian evidence act 2011 nigerian law intellectual. An appraisal of the evidence act 2011 hon justice abiodun akinyemi.
Jan 29, 20 yet, there is this air of informality which is publicly associated with electronic data unlike its hard copy counterparts. E14, laws of the federation of nigeria, and enacts a new evidence act, 2011 which applies to all. The respondent pleaded not guilty to the amended charge on 110408 and the appellant opened its case, calling a total of four witnesses. E14, laws of federation of nigeria, and enacted a new evidence act, 2011 which latter act applies to all judicial proceedings in or before any court of law in nigeria. Admissibility of computergenerated evidence under nigerias. I wonder what took them so long to make this amendment but this is a great development all the same. Explanatory memorandum this act repeals the evidence act, cap. E14, laws of the federation of nigeria, and enacts a new evidence act, which shall apply to all judicial proceedings in. Evidence act 2011, laws of the federation of nigeria, with full text search. So far, only few states in nigeria have adopted the freedom of information act at state level. Evidence in relation to the use of the computer must be called to establish the conditions set out under section 842 of the evidence act 2011. Nov 09, 2011 click to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of the latest supreme court cases by email. Evidence of character of the accused in criminal proceedings.
Competence and compellability under the evidence act of nigeria abstract the issue of who is eligible to testify in any civil or criminal matter is often a front burner question for every litigation based legal practitioner. The paper concludes that the provisions of the evidence act, 2011 on electronic proofs are largely inadequate and therefore, there is the need to understudy other jurisdictions in order to adequately confront the challenges facing admissibility of electronic evidence in nigeria. An act to repeal the nigerian evidence act chapter e14, laws of the federation of nigeria, and enact a new nigerian evidence act, which shall apply to all judicial proceedings in or before courts in nigeria. The conditions which made a confession not to be voluntary were defined by the provisions of section 28 of the repealed evidence act but the conditions which will make a confession to be regarded as unreliable are not limited by section 29 of the evidence act 2011. The enactment of the evidence act, 2011 has attempted to correct some of the difficulties that the admissibility of electronically generated evidence do encounter in nigerian courts. Evidence act 2011 including any amendment made under the. Prominent features of the book include an indepth discussion, backed with very current case and statutory law, of nagging issues in the law of evidence, like admissibility of computergenerated evidence generated from conventional computers, gsms, atm machines, internet.
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