HENRY STEPHENS ENGINEERING CO LTD V. COMPLETE HOME ENTERPRISES NIGERIA LTD

UWAIS, J.S.C.(Delivering the Leading Judgment): In this case both the appellant and the respondent have appealed from the decision of the Court of Appeal. Their appeals were dismissed on 20th October, 1986 with no order as to costs and we reserved our reasons for the dismissals till today. I now give my reasons.

The appellant was the plaintiff in the High Court of Lagos State sitting at Ikeja, while the respondent was the defendant to the action, which was brought, by the plaintiff on the 19th April, 1977. I will for ease of reference, henceforth refer to the appellant as plaintiff and the respondent as defendant. The plaintiff's claim was as follows

"The plaintiff's claim against the Defendant is for the sum of N28,082.65 being balance of cost of various Machines sold and delivered to the Defendant at its own request by the Plaintiff in Lagos during this period 31st January, 1975 to 22nd August, 1975 as per the invoices Nos. 4411 of 31/3/75, 4658 of 19/4/75,4765 of 21/5/75, 4809 of 5…