Young Lawyers Column
Aiding the course of justice
On need for courts in Nigeria to be equipped with highly trained and qualified secretaries and stenographers it was held in ISAH v. STATE (2010) 16 N.W.L.R {1218} at page 157 paras B – E per ORJI –ABADUA “… I must observe that I was never amused but rather dismayed at the volume of typographic errors I noticed on the record of proceedings of the lower court. Steps should rather be taken to equip all the courts in the country with highly trained and qualified secretaries, stenographers and legal assistants who will be assisting in proof-reading some of these courts’ documents and conducting legal researches for the Judges/Justices, rather than leaving judicial officers at the hands of copy- typists, thereby making the Judges’/Justices’ work cumbersome…”
This is just one in many circumstances that court clerks or staffs of the courts ignorantly affect the course of justice in our Nigerian Legal System. By definition “A court … is a permanently organized body, with independent judicial powers defined by law, meeting at a time and place fixed by law for the judicial administration of justice” William J. Hughes Federal Practice, Jurisdiction & Procedure {1931}. The Blacks Law Dictionary {Ninth edition} defines court as a governmental body consisting of one or more judges who sit to adjudicate disputes and administer justice, a question of law for the court to decide.
Litigants, i.e the common man on the street, through their counsel access the court for the purpose of settling their disputes. However in its day to day administration of justice, the court needs hands and legs who would aid the course of justice. These hands and legs include the Registrars, Court Clerks, Bailiffs, Messengers, Commissioners for Oath etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, of which some are knowledgeable in law to an extent and some don’t have any knowledge about law.
Before saying much, commendation must be made to certain officers of the court who are diligent in the performance of their duty in assisting the court, some young wigs even ask this dedicated staff for guidance on what to do in certain knotty situations irrespective of the fact that they are not lawyers, because of their commitment and experience on the Job. To this few I say, thank you for a job well done.
Then we have the other set, who take the business of the court casually, they give you one date and reflect another date on the case file, only for a young lawyer to come to court prepared for business then discover that the case is slated for another day. If the lawyer is unlucky, his case might be struck out on an earlier date without him knowing, this is more common in some magisterial district. Another set feel they know and understand legal practise and the workings of the profession better than the young wigs because they have been in the Nigerian Legal System earlier, some even go to the extent of talking to the young wig with disdain and disrespect in front of litigants.
One cannot over emphasise the importance of these officers of court, for without them the administration of justice would be practically impossible, in the same vein when majority of them are ill trained or under qualified, the course of justice would be immensely affected. Law is a revolving profession that is hardly static; it changes as the need of the society warrants.
The National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) should look for means to organise workshops, seminars, discussion groups or colloquium to keep court staff abreast with the dynamics of the legal profession that touches on the day to day business of the courts. Like the importance of effecting prompt service of court process on parties or counsel, taking interpretation of proceedings in the language understood by witness or parties serious, fixing dates without concern to the convenience of a counsel et al.
If possible, the standard of criteria used to employ these officers of court should be raised to better improve the administration of justice. The common man on the street comes to court because he believes in the sanctity of the judiciary. Clients sometime question the seriousness of young wigs when the business slated for the day is adjourned to another date due to one omission or commission of an officer of the court.
Do send your comments, observation and recommendation to danielbulusson@gmail.com