BULUS BELLO HAMMAN & ORS V. YAKUBU PUR & ANOR

JOSEPH TINE TUR, J.C.A.(Delivering the Leading Judgment):I have tagged this determination a Decision by virtue of the provisions of Section 294(2)-(4) wherein every determination by the Justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court is either a decision or an opinion. Section 318(1) of the Constitution defines a decision to mean, in relation to a Court, any determination of that Court and includes judgment, decree, order, conviction, sentence or recommendation. A Ruling is omitted in the definition under Section 318(1) of the Constitution (supra). What the framers of the Constitution omitted should not be inserted by trial Judges {Section 294(1)} or Justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal (Section 294(2)-(4) of the Constitution (supra).

In Jurisprudence, 4th edition by R.W.M. Diaz appears the following passage at page 196, citingDavies v. Powell (1737), Willes, 46 at 51 per Willes, C.J. as follows:

When the nature of things changes, the rules of law must change too.…