Conflicting Rationes Decidendi: The Dilemma of the Lower Courts in Nigeria

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Periodical article

Title:	Conflicting Rationes Decidendi: The Dilemma of the Lower Courts in Nigeria
Author:	Essien, Enefiok
Year:	2000
Periodical:	African Journal of International and Comparative Law
Volume:	12
Issue:	1
Pages:	23-30
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	judgments supreme courts courts of first instance Law, Human Rights and Violence
External link:	https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/afjincol12&id=35&collection=journals&index=journals/afjincol
Abstract:	This article examines what options are open to the lower courts in Nigeria when faced with conflicting precedents (rationes decidendi) of the Supreme Court or of the Court of Appeal. The author argues, while analysing several relevant cases, that in a situation of conflict the lower court may be at liberty to pick and choose which of the Supreme Court or Court of Appeal decisions to follow. In this connection, he also demonstrates that the option of simply following the latter of the conflicting decisions, though an easy way out of the quandary, is in most cases arbitrary and largely unsupportable. However, he concludes that it is more probable than not that the last word has not yet been said on this issue. Notes, ref.