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Equitable bases of the Nigerian land use act

Equitable bases of the Nigerian land use act
Equitable bases of the Nigerian land use act
Do the terms of the Nigerian Land Use Act permit the application of equitable principles to transactions under it? More particularly, could equity be used to enforce null and void transactions under the Act? Although the Supreme Court answered these questions in the negative in Ajilo, other decisions of the Supreme Court, as well as some sections of the Act itself, suggest that the Act is not incompatible with equitable principles. Nor is it contrary to public policy to enforce null and void transactions under the Act through the intervention of equity. Two relevant equitable concepts are resulting and constructive trusts. While constructive trusts have found some fertile soil in Nigerian equity jurisprudence (despite the discordant tune in Ajilo), Nigerian courts seem to struggle with the principles of resulting trust. This article suggests that resulting and constructive trusts are proper instruments for the interpretation and application of the Act and that Ajilo should be overruled.
0021-8553
119-142
Nwabueze, Remigius Nnamdi
6b2cdf07-8ee1-4d6f-9882-e3ea41e2aa0b
Nwabueze, Remigius Nnamdi
6b2cdf07-8ee1-4d6f-9882-e3ea41e2aa0b

Nwabueze, Remigius Nnamdi (2010) Equitable bases of the Nigerian land use act. Journal of African Law, 54 (1), 119-142. (doi:10.1017/s0021855309990192).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Do the terms of the Nigerian Land Use Act permit the application of equitable principles to transactions under it? More particularly, could equity be used to enforce null and void transactions under the Act? Although the Supreme Court answered these questions in the negative in Ajilo, other decisions of the Supreme Court, as well as some sections of the Act itself, suggest that the Act is not incompatible with equitable principles. Nor is it contrary to public policy to enforce null and void transactions under the Act through the intervention of equity. Two relevant equitable concepts are resulting and constructive trusts. While constructive trusts have found some fertile soil in Nigerian equity jurisprudence (despite the discordant tune in Ajilo), Nigerian courts seem to struggle with the principles of resulting trust. This article suggests that resulting and constructive trusts are proper instruments for the interpretation and application of the Act and that Ajilo should be overruled.

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Published date: 2010

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 73283
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/73283
ISSN: 0021-8553
PURE UUID: 68d31374-0555-4d36-a899-136113f04447
ORCID for Remigius Nnamdi Nwabueze: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3100-6427

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 04 Mar 2010
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:51

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