REAL ESTATE AND PROPERTY LAW CASES/JUDGMENTS

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Leasehold – State land – Whether a State land leased to a party can be compulsorily acquired without giving the lessee personal notice – Where acquisition of the land was published in the gazette and newspaper – Whether serves as effective notice to lessee

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Deed of Conveyance – Where invalid – Subsequent deed of ratifica­tion – Whether can rectify same

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Family land – Grant of – Failure of descendant of allottee – When re­version in the family inures

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Family land – Nature of right of allottee thereof – Glover settlement – Lands allotted thereunder – Whether can only be validly allotted to indi­viduals and not groups of individuals

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Family land disposed by family head without consulting members – Rule that such transaction can be voided by the other members of the family – Whether applies to an innocent purchaser for value

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Co-ownership of property – Effect of – How proved.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Declaration of title – Five ways in which title to land may be proved- Burden on plaintiff claiming therefor – Whether plaintiff can rely on weakness of defence

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – CONVEYANCING:- “Instrument” within the meaning of Land Instrument Registration Act, Cap. 515 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 – nature of document that qualifies as same

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – CONVEYANCING:- Registrable instrument – power of attorney – Nature of – Power of attorney to execute any instrument in respect of a landed property – When it becomes registrable under the Land Registration Act, Cap. 515 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Land Registration-Temporary Occupation Licence-Whether registrable under the Land Registration Act—Regulation 17 of 1937 (Laws of Nigeria and Lagos VOL. VIII Page 1194)

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Traditional history – Party relying thereon – What must be pleaded and proved

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Family property – Representative action on behalf of family – Failure to prove common interest with the family – Effect.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Family property – Who can sue for protection thereof.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Declaration of title – Acts of possession in proof of title – When plaintiff cannot rely thereon

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Declaration of title to land-Where plaintiff s evidence contradictory – Effect on his claim

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Possession – Where both parties claim to be in possession – How issue thereof resolved

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Trespass – Who can maintain action therefor – Where issue of title raised therein – What plaintiff must show to succeed

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Trespass and injunction – Claim thereof – When title becomes an issue

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Title – Priority of- Priority of two conveyances in respect of the same plot – How determined

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Customary tenancy – Nature of

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Ownership of land – Acts of ownership – When acts can qualify as.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Possession – Adverse possession – Nature of- Whether tenant’s possession can be adverse to ownership of landlord

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Distinction between settler and the holder of a grant – Whether  no more than a mere technicality

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Title over land – Onus of proof – On whom lies – Need for plaintiff to establish his claim as pleaded – Effect of dismissal of plaintiffs claim in the absence of a counter-claim by the defendants – Whether dismissal amounts to a declaration of title in the defendants

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Cap.56 Laws of Oyo State 1978 ‑ Proof of due execution of deed – What constitutes

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Family Property – Partition – How proved – Co-owners of partitioned property – Alienation by some without consent of others – Whether alienation void or voidable.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Family Property – Partition – Partition acknowledged by members of family – Effect

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Customary Tenancy – Recovery of possession of land thereunder – Whether requirement to give statutory notice to quit applicable in residential premises apply

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Long possession of land under a tenancy agreement – Whether can compete with or oust a better title

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Declaration of title – Party claiming – Onus on to succeed on the strength of his case and not on the weakness of the defence.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:-Equitable defences- How pleaded and proved – When defendant will not be allowed to rely thereon

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Contract of sale of land – Need to be in writing – What the document must contain – Whether the law prescribes a special form for the document.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – Contract of sale of land – Conditions that must be satisfied before the court will utilize the doctrine of part performance to enforce same without a note or memorandum in support of the agreement.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Proof of purchase of land – How determined

LAND LAW/REAL ESTATE – MORTGAGE:– Requirement of Consent of State Governor for mortgage transaction – Whether fresh consent is required where the naira value of the credit facility is subsequently enhanced

LAND LAW/REAL ESTATE – MORTGAGE:– Letter written by Chief Lands Officer conveying the consent of appropriate authority to a mortgage transaction- Whether meets the requirement under Kwara State Legal Notice No. 8 of 1975

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Trespass to land – Continuing trespass – Doctrine of – What it postulates – Right of action of plaintiff therefor – Scope of doctrine

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Trespass to land – Continuing trespass – When this may occur to give rise to cause of action

REAL ESTATE AND PROPERTY LAW:- Rights over land and natural resources in a tract of land statutorily designated as a forest reserve – Nature of rights reserved for original owners – How determined – Extent of – Limit of right of action entitled thereto

REAL ESTATE AND PROPERTY LAW:- Customary land ownership – Nature of in the Lagos and Western Nigeria axis – Whether communal or family in the main –

REAL ESTATE AND PROPERTY LAW:- Statutory constitution of a Native Authority Forest Reserve  – Nature of holding therein – How discerned – Where every right in or over land within the forest reserve other than the reserved rights is extinguished – Effect – Where rights to reside, rights to farm, rights of way and rights to hunt and fish are granted to certain communities – Whether extends to other acts of users not expressly mentioned like right to cut down trees not necessary for their limited personal needs

REAL ESTATE AND PROPERTY LAW:- Statutory constitution of a Native Authority Forest Reserve  – Effect – Whether the lands over which a Native Authority Forest Reserve has been constituted ceased to be communal lands and have passed under the administration of the Native Authority – Whether confers right to make concession of portion of forest reserve to third parties for commercial exploitation inconsistent with reserved rights of original natives

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Issue of compensation on land compulsorily acquired – Jurisdiction of High Court of State to determine prior to and after commencement of the 1979 Constitution.

REAL ESTATE/FAMILY LAW:– Family Property – Principles for a successful claim for account

REAL ESTATE – LAND LAW:– Legal Mortgage executed in favour of a bank – Admission of indebtedness by defendant – When can be enforced by court

REAL ESTATE – LAND LAW:– Mortgage deed – Onus to show discharge of mortgage or liquidation of indebtedness – On whom lies

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Value of landed property – Determination of – Factors to consider

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – MORTGAGE:- Governor’s consent – Where original mortgage continuing security for raising second mortgage – Whether Governor’s consent required for second mortgage – Proper treatment

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – MORTGAGE:- Legal mortgage – Attributes of

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – LANDLORD AND TENANT:- Damages for use and occupation of property – Claim for – Basis of.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – LANDLORD AND TENANT:- Determination of tenancy— Yearly tenancy – Length of notice required for determination of – How computed

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Declaration of title – Claim, for trespass and injunction – What chum postulates – Whether court can grant declaration of title

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:–  Declaration of title – Presumption of ownership – Ownership of adjourning oi adjacent land – Presumption raised thereby – Section 146 evidence Act

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Family land – Allocation thereof to member of family – Nature of grant created thereby

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:–  Family land – Allotment thereof to family member – Nature of right or interest passed to family member thereby

LAND LAW/REAL ESTATE:- Title to land – Priority – Legal and equitable interests – Competing transfers of the same land to two different parties – Where none of the parties rested claim to title on native law and custom but in fee simple – Land originally secured via purchase receipt only – Whether gives equitable interest in the land only – Whether party who called in the legal estate in land by execution of deed over the land has better title than another who at no time directly or through predecessors-in-title called in the legal estate – Whether in the absence of notice, actual or constructive, of existing equities over land, if any, a person who acquires legal estate must take priority

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:–  Customary tenancy – Breach of – Need for declaration for for­feiture

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:–  Proof of ownership – Conflicting traditional history – Test to apply in choosing the most probable

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Title to land – How established

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Ownership of land – Previous judgments – Reliance upon same by parties and – Duty of Judge thereto

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Claim for possession of parcel of land and Mesne profits until possession is delivered up – Title claimed under customary law – How proved

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:- Disputed title to land – Evidence of title under customary law – When the radical ownership of the land is deemed to be in issue – Duty on parties to prove radical ownership of vendors – Effect of failure thereto

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:–  Native land tenure system ‑ Trial court disbelieving custom established by evidence – Effect

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Traditional History ‑ Plaintiff not pleading or tracing original settler on land in dispute to himself ‑ Effect

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Trespass. What constitutes‑ Who can sue therefor

LAND LAW: Conveyance of property – Where obtained in name of deceased testator to cover the whole property – Effect on claim that she has earlier given a portion of same land to defendant – How treated

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Declaration of title – Duty on plaintiff to prove his claim by credible evidence – Need not to rely, on the weakness of the defendant’s case

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:–Title to land – Radical title in one party – Where not disputed by adversary – Onus on the adversary to prove grant by the holder of radical title.

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – CONVEYANCING:- Deed – Recital or statement in a document of twenty years old – When presumption can be raised in respect thereof – When it cannot be raised -What party relying on presumption must show – Section 130 of the Evidence Act

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW – CONVEYANCING:- Deed – Execution of a deed or a document- Due execution of – When presumed – Relevant factors – Section 123 Evidence Act

AINA V. IKUSEDUN

LAND LAW/REAL ESTATE: Declaration of title – Onus of proof on Plaintiff to proof same – Whether can shift to defendant – Whether plaintiff can only succeed on the strength of his case and not on the weakness of the Defendant’s case

LAND LAW – REGISTERATION OF A DEED:- Whether not evidence of its due execution – Effect

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Possession – Meaning of in relation to land

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Possession – Where plaintiff establishes possession of land – Need to grant injunction to protect

REAL ESTATE/LAND LAW:– Possession of land – Evidence of – Various acts that may constitute

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JUDGMENTS OF NIGERIAN COURTS

By Litigation/Procedure Areas