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West African Court of Appeal & Privy Council

TERMS OF USE

TERMS OF USE

Last Updated: 1 October 2026

1. ABOUT THESE TERMS

Welcome to WACAPC Africa, accessible through WACAPC-Africa.com.

WACAPC Africa (“WACAPC”, “we”, “our” or “us”) is a legal-information, research and publishing platform operated by Tree & Trees JusticeMedia, providing access to historical West African judicial decisions, law reports, case digests, editorial materials, research resources and related legal information.

These Terms of Use govern your access to and use of the WACAPC website, including its free content, premium content, membership services, subscription services, databases, case materials and other resources.

By accessing or using WACAPC, you agree to these Terms.

If you purchase or use a particular membership, subscription or service that is subject to additional terms disclosed at the point of purchase, those additional terms will also apply.

2. NATURE AND PURPOSE OF WACAPC

WACAPC is designed to preserve, organise, contextualise and make accessible judicial and legal materials relating principally to:

  • the West African Court of Appeal;
  • the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council;
  • Nigeria;
  • Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast;
  • Sierra Leone;
  • The Gambia; and
  • related historical and contemporary legal developments.

WACAPC may provide:

  • full or partial historical judgments;
  • case summaries and digests;
  • editorial headnotes;
  • legal issues and holdings;
  • subject classifications;
  • historical and doctrinal commentary;
  • citation information;
  • judicial biographies and institutional history;
  • research tools;
  • free legal resources; and
  • premium research content.

The availability and presentation of particular materials may change from time to time.

3. LEGAL INFORMATION — NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Content published on WACAPC is provided for legal research, historical, educational and informational purposes.

Nothing on WACAPC constitutes legal advice, creates a lawyer-client relationship, or should be treated as a substitute for obtaining advice from a qualified legal practitioner concerning a particular matter.

Although WACAPC seeks to provide accurate and useful legal information:

  • laws may have been amended or repealed;
  • cases may have been distinguished, overruled or affected by later authority;
  • historical terminology may no longer reflect current law;
  • colonial-era laws and decisions may operate within a materially different constitutional framework;
  • transcription, digitisation or source-document errors may occasionally occur; and
  • a case digest or editorial summary necessarily represents a condensed treatment of the underlying judgment.

Users undertaking professional, judicial, academic or other consequential legal work should verify material against the relevant primary sources and current law.

4. HISTORICAL MATERIALS

WACAPC contains legal materials produced over a substantial historical period.

Historical judgments may contain:

  • archaic terminology;
  • colonial terminology;
  • obsolete statutory references;
  • historical descriptions of race, ethnicity, nationality, status or social institutions;
  • language or legal concepts that would not be appropriate in contemporary usage.

Such material may be reproduced where necessary to preserve the integrity of the historical legal record.

Its reproduction does not necessarily constitute endorsement by WACAPC of the terminology, views or social assumptions contained in the original material.

5. FREE AND PREMIUM CONTENT

Some WACAPC materials are available without charge.

Other materials are restricted to registered users, subscribers or members of designated premium plans.

WACAPC may determine from time to time:

  • which materials are available freely;
  • which materials require registration;
  • which materials require a paid membership;
  • the features included in each membership level; and
  • the duration and pricing of subscription plans.

The existence of a free version of a case, digest or resource does not require WACAPC to make every related resource available without charge.

6. USER ACCOUNTS

Certain features may require creation of a user account.

When creating or maintaining an account, you agree to:

  • provide accurate information;
  • maintain the confidentiality of your login credentials;
  • take reasonable measures to prevent unauthorised access;
  • promptly notify us if you become aware of unauthorised use of your account; and
  • remain responsible for activity undertaken through your account to the extent permitted by law.

You must not knowingly provide another person with your login credentials for the purpose of circumventing membership restrictions.

WACAPC may take reasonable measures to protect accounts and premium content against unauthorised sharing or access.

7. MEMBERSHIPS, SUBSCRIPTIONS AND PAYMENTS

Where WACAPC offers paid access, the applicable price, duration and principal features of the relevant subscription or membership will be displayed at or before purchase.

By purchasing a paid service, you authorise the applicable payment provider to process the amount disclosed to you.

Where a subscription is offered on an automatically renewing basis, that arrangement and the applicable renewal period should be disclosed as part of the subscription process.

Prices may be changed prospectively. A price change will not retrospectively alter a completed transaction.

Taxes, transaction charges or payment-provider charges may apply where disclosed or required by law.

8. CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS

Users may cancel future renewal of a recurring subscription through the available account or support mechanisms.

Cancellation ordinarily prevents the next renewal but does not necessarily terminate access for a period that has already been paid for.

Because WACAPC provides immediate access to digital information and research resources, payments for subscription periods already commenced may generally be non-refundable once substantial premium access has been provided, except where:

  • applicable law requires a refund;
  • a duplicate or erroneous payment has occurred;
  • WACAPC fails materially to provide the purchased service;
  • a significant technical failure attributable to WACAPC prevents reasonable use of the purchased service; or
  • WACAPC otherwise determines that a refund is appropriate.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts any mandatory consumer right which cannot lawfully be excluded.

9. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

A. WACAPC editorial materials

Unless otherwise indicated, original WACAPC materials may include:

  • case digests;
  • headnotes;
  • summaries;
  • legal-issue formulations;
  • classifications and taxonomies;
  • commentary;
  • annotations;
  • explanatory materials;
  • editorial introductions;
  • subject indexing;
  • metadata created by WACAPC;
  • database selection and arrangement;
  • graphics;
  • design elements; and
  • original compilations.

Such original material is protected to the extent provided by applicable intellectual-property law.

B. Underlying judgments and historical source materials

WACAPC does not claim exclusive proprietary rights over underlying judicial decisions or other source materials merely because they appear on this website where such rights do not legally belong to WACAPC.

The copyright or other legal status of historical judgments and source documents may depend upon their jurisdiction, date, provenance and applicable law.

WACAPC’s rights in its editorial treatment, selection, arrangement, digitisation, annotations, classifications and other original additions are distinct from whatever legal status attaches to the underlying primary material.

C. Third-party material

Third-party materials remain subject to the rights of their respective owners.

References to third-party publications, citations, cases, publishers or databases do not imply ownership by WACAPC.

10. PERMITTED USE

Subject to these Terms, you may use WACAPC for legitimate:

  • personal research;
  • professional legal research;
  • judicial research;
  • academic research;
  • classroom and educational use;
  • citation and commentary;
  • journalism;
  • policy research; and
  • other lawful purposes.

Reasonable quotations from WACAPC editorial materials may be made for purposes such as research, criticism, review, reporting, scholarship or legal argument, subject to applicable law and appropriate attribution.

A citation or hyperlink to the relevant WACAPC page is encouraged when WACAPC editorial material is relied upon.

11. PROHIBITED USE

Unless WACAPC has given prior written permission or applicable law expressly permits the activity, you must not:

  • systematically copy substantial portions of the WACAPC database;
  • reproduce substantial quantities of premium content for redistribution;
  • republish WACAPC case digests or editorial materials as your own;
  • sell, sublicense or commercially redistribute WACAPC premium materials;
  • use automated tools to extract the database at a scale that materially interferes with the service or circumvents access controls;
  • bypass a paywall, membership restriction or technical access control;
  • share a premium account for the purpose of avoiding subscription requirements;
  • remove copyright, attribution, source or proprietary notices;
  • falsely represent an association with or endorsement by WACAPC;
  • interfere with the security or operation of the website;
  • introduce malware or harmful code;
  • attempt unauthorised access to accounts, servers or systems; or
  • use WACAPC for any unlawful purpose.

Nothing in this clause prohibits legitimate indexing by recognised search engines or other activity that WACAPC has expressly authorised.

12. AUTOMATED ACCESS, DATA MINING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Automated access to WACAPC must not:

  • circumvent technical restrictions;
  • evade subscription requirements;
  • impose unreasonable loads on our systems;
  • reproduce a substantial portion of the database;
  • remove source attribution; or
  • facilitate unauthorised commercial republication of WACAPC editorial content.

Use of substantial quantities of proprietary WACAPC editorial material for commercial database creation, model training, retrieval systems or competing information products may require prior written permission where such permission is required under applicable law.

Nothing in this section is intended to restrict uses expressly permitted by applicable law.

13. CITATIONS AND RELIANCE ON CASE MATERIALS

WACAPC seeks to provide reliable case names, dates, citations, judicial panels, representation, originating courts, facts, issues, holdings and editorial classifications.

Historical sources may nevertheless contain discrepancies.

Examples include:

  • spelling variations in party names;
  • inconsistent dates;
  • differences between bound-volume indexes and individual reports;
  • printing errors;
  • damaged or incomplete source pages;
  • OCR or digitisation errors; and
  • differences among parallel law-report citations.

Where WACAPC identifies an apparent error, it may correct or annotate the digital record.

Users requiring an authoritative citation for court proceedings, publication or academic work should independently verify the citation against the original or other authoritative source where reasonably necessary.

14. CORRECTIONS AND EDITORIAL UPDATES

WACAPC may:

  • correct typographical errors;
  • repair digitisation defects;
  • correct case names or citations;
  • add missing metadata;
  • revise summaries;
  • expand editorial commentary;
  • reclassify subject headings;
  • add subsequent judicial treatment;
  • replace incomplete source texts; and
  • otherwise improve the database.

Such corrections may be made without preserving every earlier version on the public website.

If you identify a suspected error, you may contact WACAPC through the Contact Us page.

15. ADVERTISEMENTS

WACAPC may display advertisements, including advertisements supplied by third-party advertising providers such as Google.

Advertising does not constitute endorsement by WACAPC of an advertiser, product or service.

Third-party advertising and associated data processing are also subject to our Privacy & Cookie Policy and, where applicable, the privacy policies of the relevant advertising provider.

16. THIRD-PARTY LINKS AND SERVICES

WACAPC may link to:

  • courts;
  • government agencies;
  • universities;
  • legal databases;
  • publishers;
  • payment processors;
  • advertisers; and
  • other external websites or resources.

External websites are operated independently.

WACAPC does not control and is not responsible for their:

  • availability;
  • content;
  • accuracy;
  • security;
  • privacy practices;
  • products; or
  • services.

A link does not necessarily imply endorsement.

Users should review the applicable terms and privacy policies of third-party services.

17. AVAILABILITY OF THE SERVICE

We aim to maintain reliable access to WACAPC but do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation.

Access may occasionally be affected by:

  • maintenance;
  • upgrades;
  • hosting failures;
  • security incidents;
  • telecommunications failures;
  • third-party service failures;
  • force majeure events; or
  • circumstances outside our reasonable control.

We may modify, suspend or discontinue a feature where reasonably necessary.

18. SUSPENSION OR TERMINATION OF ACCESS

WACAPC may suspend or terminate an account or restrict access where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a user has:

  • materially breached these Terms;
  • engaged in fraud or abuse;
  • unlawfully redistributed premium material;
  • attempted to circumvent access controls;
  • created a security risk; or
  • used the service unlawfully.

Where reasonably practicable and appropriate, we may provide notice or an opportunity to resolve the issue.

Any mandatory rights available to a consumer under applicable law remain unaffected.

19. DISCLAIMERS

To the extent permitted by applicable law, WACAPC is provided on an “as available” basis.

Although reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate and useful information, we do not warrant that every item will at all times be:

  • complete;
  • error-free;
  • current;
  • suitable for a particular legal proceeding;
  • identical to every historical printed edition; or
  • free from temporary technical interruption.

No disclaimer in these Terms excludes liability which cannot legally be excluded.

20. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

To the extent permitted by applicable law, WACAPC, Tree & Trees JusticeMedia and persons acting on their behalf will not be liable for indirect or consequential loss arising solely from:

  • reliance upon outdated or superseded legal information;
  • failure independently to verify material where professional verification was reasonably required;
  • temporary interruption of website access;
  • third-party websites or services; or
  • unauthorised activity resulting from a user’s failure reasonably to secure account credentials.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability:

  • where exclusion is prohibited by law;
  • for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
  • for liability that applicable consumer law makes non-excludable; or
  • for any other liability which cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

21. PRIVACY AND PERSONAL DATA

Our collection and use of personal information is governed by the WACAPC Privacy & Cookie Policy, which forms part of the framework governing your use of the website.

Users should read that policy to understand:

  • information we collect;
  • cookies and analytics;
  • advertising technologies;
  • memberships and payments;
  • data-protection rights; and
  • how to contact us about privacy matters.

22. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

WACAPC may update these Terms where reasonably necessary to reflect:

  • changes to the service;
  • new products or subscription arrangements;
  • technological developments;
  • changes to law or regulation;
  • security requirements; or
  • changes to our business or publishing practices.

The current version will be published on this page together with its “Last Updated” date.

Where a change materially affects an existing paid subscription or a user’s legal rights, we may provide additional notice where required by law.

Continued use of the website after amended Terms take effect constitutes acceptance of the amended Terms to the extent permitted by applicable law.

23. SEVERABILITY

If any provision of these Terms is held by a competent court to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable, that provision will be interpreted or limited to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will continue in effect.

24. NO WAIVER

Failure by WACAPC to enforce a provision of these Terms on one occasion does not constitute a waiver of that provision or of the right to enforce it subsequently.

25. GOVERNING LAW

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, subject to any mandatory law that applies to a user in another jurisdiction and cannot lawfully be excluded.

26. DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND JURISDICTION

We encourage users first to contact WACAPC in an effort to resolve any complaint or dispute informally.

Where a dispute cannot be resolved amicably, the parties may explore an appropriate consensual dispute-resolution process.

Subject to applicable law and any mandatory consumer forum or jurisdiction, disputes concerning these Terms or use of WACAPC may be submitted to a court of competent jurisdiction in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Nothing in this clause prevents a consumer from exercising any mandatory right of complaint or redress available under applicable law.

27. CONTACT US

Questions concerning these Terms may be sent through the Contact Us page on WACAPC-Africa.com or through the contact information published on the website.

WACAPC Africa
By Tree & Trees JusticeMedia
Phone/Whatsapp: +234 7067102097
Email: wacapc.africa@gmail.com
Support: support@wacapc-africa.com

WACAPC Africa
Legal Information • Historical Law Reports • Case Digests • Legal Research

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