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REX
V.
A. M. ANIMASHAUN AND ANOTHER
WEST AFRICAN COURT OF APPEAL HOLDEN AT LAGOS, NIGERIA
26TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1938
2PLR/1938/41 (WACA)
OTHER CITATION(S)
2PLR/1938/41 (WACA)
(1938) IV WACA PP. 144 – 145
LEX (1938) – IV WACA PP. 144-145
BEFORE THEIR LORDSHIPS:
DONALD KINGDON, C.J., NIGERIA
PETRIDES, C.J., GOLD COAST
WEBB, C.J., SIERRA LEONE
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BETWEEN:
REX — Respondent
AND
A. M. ANIMASHAUN,
A. L. AKODU — Appellants
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ORIGINATING COURT(S)
APPEAL FROM CONVICTIONS BY HIGH COURT
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REPRESENTATION
C. N. S. POLLARD — for Crown preliminarily submitted no appeal lay
O. ALAKIJA — for Appellants opposed
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ISSUE(S) FROM THE CAUSE(S) OF ACTION
CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE – PROOF OF CRIME:- Contempt of court and summary conviction – Perjury contrary to section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance – Whether appeal lies therefrom – Distinction between the position in Nigeria and England – Legal effect
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PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE ISSUE(S)
INTERPRETATION OF STATUTE:- Presumption that the legislature, when creating a new enactment must be presumed to have had in mind its effect, inter alia, upon the provisions of other existing laws – Legal effect
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CASE SUMMARY
The appellants were summarily convicted for perjury committed in the course of a civil action, and appealed.
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DECISION OF THE WEST AFRICAN COURT OF APPEAL
Held:
1. In Nigeria, unlike England, an appeal lies from summary convictions in just the same way as it lies from any other conviction.
Preliminary objection accordingly overruled.
An appeal lies.
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MAIN JUDGMENT
The following joint decision was delivered:
KINGDON, C.J., NIGERIA, PETRIDES, C.J., GOLD COAST AND WEBB, C.J., SIERRA LEONE.
The appellants in this case have been committed to prison as for Contempt of Court under section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance the first for three months I.H.L., the second for one month 1.H.L. — by Graham Paul, J., sitting as a Judge of the High Court in the Ibadan Judicial Division.
Before so committing the appellants the learned trial Judge placed upon record that it appeared to him that the respective appellants had been guilty of perjury in proceedings before him and he duly complied with the provisions of section 42 of the Ordinance. Upon the appeal being called the learned Crown Counsel has taken the objection that no appeal lies to this Court against a committal as for contempt by a High Court Judge under section 41 of the Ordinance.
He admits that the committal follows upon what is technically a summary conviction, but points out that it is well established law that in England no appeal lies against a committal by the High Court where the contempt is criminal, save upon the question of jurisdiction, and submits that the law is the same here. But in our view this is not so.
The reason why no appeal lies in England is the general rule that no appeal on the merits lies from a summary conviction for a criminal offence in the High Court. But here the law on this point is the opposite, having been changed in 1933.
By the wide terms of section 9 of the West African Court of Appeal Ordinance (No. 47 of 1933), viz:
“A person convicted by or in the Supreme Court or the High Court or a Native Court may appeal to the Court of Appeal ****,” the legislation has deliberately conferred upon all convicted persons the rights given by the section, regardless of whether the conviction be had upon information or summarily. It is true, as the learned Crown Counsel points out, that section 41 of Chapter 20 does not contemplate appeal except in accordance with its own express terms and limitations; but at the time of its enactment no appeal (save by way of case stated) existed in criminal matters from the High Court to this Court. The legislature, when creating a right of appeal in 1933, must be presumed to have had in mind its effect, inter alia, upon the provisions of that section.
We are therefore of opinion that an appeal lies from the convictions in the present case in just the same way as it lies from any other conviction. The preliminary objection is accordingly overruled.