Justice Chambers

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY CORPUS DELICTI Corpus delicti literally means "body of the crime" in Latin. It is pronounced as                                       [ kawr-puhs di-lik-tahy ]. It is also sometimes referred to as "body of evidence" or "material element" in English legal systems. Corpus delicti is the principle that a crime must be proved to have occurred before a person can be convicted of committing that crime. In essence corpus delicti means that some type of evidence needs to be found before a person can be convicted of a crime. Then no literal 'body' will be needed so far as circumstantial evidence is established. If a crime has been committed and evidence is disposed of or destroyed, the corpus delicti rule may nonetheless allow the prosecution to bring a case against a person. Corpus delicti is not to be misinterpreted to have a li...

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY  EQUITY (COMPANY LAW) Equity is the value of a company that is attributable to shareholders' investment in it after subtracting all liabilities from its assets. It represents the residual interest in the assets of an entity after deducting all its liabilities. Shareholder equity can be either negative or positive. If positive, the company has enough assets to cover its liabilities. If negative, the company's liabilities exceed its assets; if prolonged, this is considered balance sheet insolvency. Equity can be negative if total liabilities exceed total assets. Equity, as a term for ownership, contrasts with debt, which is borrowed funds. Equities (or stocks) are issued by companies using stock certificates (certificates of ownership) and represented by two numbers: the price per share (or share price) and the total number of shares outstanding (share count). The calculation of equity is a company's total as...

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY CAVEAT VENDITOR The opposite of caveat emptor is caveat venditor. Caveat emptor is a Latin term that means "let the buyer beware." Similar to the phrase "sold as is," this term means that the buyer assumes the risk that a product may fail to meet expectations or have defects. In other words, the principle of caveat emptor serves as a warning that buyers have no recourse with the seller if the product does not meet their expectations. The term is actually part of a longer statement: Caveat emptor, quia ignorare non debuit quod jus alienum emit ("Let a purchaser beware, for he ought not to be ignorant of the nature of the property which he is buying from another party.") The assumption is that buyers will inspect and otherwise ensure that they are confident with the integrity of the product (or land, to which it often refers) before completing a transaction. Under the principle of caveat emp...

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY NOVATION Novation, in contract law and business law is the act of replacing an obligation to perform with another obligation; adding an obligation to perform, or replacing a party to an agreement with a new party. A novation is an agreement made between two contracting parties to allow for the substitution of a new party for an existing one. The original contracting party who is replaced by the new party with the novation is excused by the novation, and therefore the original party who is replaced gives up any rights it has against the other original party to the contract. All parties involved, generally a transferee, transferor and counterparty, must agree to these changes. Novati, as a legal term is derived from Roman law. There are three main ways to make a novation: 1) Novation : A simple novation doesn’t involve the entry of a third party. Instead, someone who owes debt enters into a new agreement with their lende...

THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY WHAT "R" MEANS IN CASE CITATIONS In English criminal proceedings, the letter "R" represents Regina/Rex, the Latin term for the Queen/King. this “R” refers to the Crown or the Commonwealth indicating that the Crown is the Plaintiff, depending on the monarch in power. The letter "R" is a relic left over from the English system of which Nigerian law was adapted. Some legal cases make reference to the Old English cases, but few are actually aware of what they are and what they stand for. They hold a lot of weight in law as they have been tried, tested and used in the past and have served their purpose well. Case citations are used extensively to identify past court case decisions, either in a series of books called reporters or law reports or in a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. They are also known as case names. It's important to fully understa...