Justice Chambers

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMBERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY POWER OF ATTORNEY Power of Attorney (POA) is a legally binding document that allows a person to appoint another person on his behalf concerning private matters, finance, real estate, business, and more. The person appointing is called Principal/Donor and the apointee is called Attorney-in-fact/Agent. This power can be conferred on anyone be it a legal practitioner or a layman.  For the Power of Attorney to be binding and effective, it must contain the signature and seal of the Donor. Power of Attorney is executed to allow someone else act on your behalf when you are not available or capable to act for yourself as a result of illness, travel, defense, etc.  There are four (4) types of POA. General Power of Attorney: Here, the agent can perform almost any act as the principal.  Special/Limited Power of Attorney: Here, the agent has specific powers limited to a certain area.  Ordinary Power of Attorn...

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMBERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY WEEKLY LEGAL NUGGETS  COMPOS MENTIS This Latin term is pronounced as /ˌkɒmpɒs ˈmɛntɪs/ . It literally means " having full control of one's mind " i.e being mentally sound and sane. A party engaging in any transaction must be found to be of sound mind as at the time of entering into the transaction for it to be held as binding in the court of law. The essence of the requirement of soundness of mind is so that the court can know if the party understands the nature of what he is doing and if he really intended to do so. In contract and testaments/will, being composed mentis is an essential ingredient, the absence of which will render the document null and void.  FROM THE DIRECTORATE OF RESEARCH

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMBERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY WEEKLY LEGAL NUGGETS  CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT A confession is an admission made at any time by a person charged with a crime stating or suggesting the inference that he committed that crime. This is provided for in Section 28 of the Evidence Act, 2011.  For a confessional statement to be admissible in court, it is essential that it is Voluntary . The admission must also be direct and affirmative, not ambiguous.  An admission of guilt must be made by the person charged, not any other person, be it his counsel or police officer. Such confession made can only be relevant against the person who made it only.  Section 29 of the Evidence Act 2011 provides for the rule of evidence regarding relevance and admissibility of confessional statements. A confession must not be forced or extracted by means of oppression such as torture, inhuman or degrading treatment and the use or threat of violence.  It is ...

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMBERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY WEEKLY LEGAL NUGGETS  LEGALESE Legalese is a technical form of writing often used by lawyers and members of the legal community to discuss legal definitions, terms, laws, and contracts. It is the formal and technical language of legal documents. One example of legalese is the terms and conditions of a contract.  Lawyers use words in their ordinary meaning just like every other member of the public on the one hand, and on the other hand, lawyers use words in a special/technical sense and thus give such a word a legal or uncommon meaning, such as "abate", which in law means to suppress a nuisance or to suspend a claim, or action, and a word like "bench" which in law means Judges or Magistrates collectively, etc. Lawyers often use a lot of archaic or old words because much of the common law on which English law is based was developed in the 15th century when the commonly used words were Roman and Latin.  Legalese...