Relevancy - Admissibility of Documents
23 Pages Posted: 29 Jan 2013
Date Written: January 28, 2013
Abstract
The literature encircling relevancy and admissibility of documents in judicial proceedings the world over has witnessed a plethora of perspectives established and dependent on domestic statutory provisions, as well as requisite judicial pronouncements and/or interpretations bothering on the across-the-board subject of documentary evidence. Interestingly, the ability of various domestic Laws of evidence to accommodate the new trends in modern information and communication technology to an extent that has modified the meaning attached to documents, to incorporate any device by means of which information is recorded, stored or retrievable, remains a welcome development. Electronic communication now flourishes as the prevalent and most desirable form of communication in the sphere of business and social interaction, especially as it is permanent, nearly indestructible and easily transferable. Yet, there is this air of informality which is publicly associated with electronic data unlike its hard copy counterparts.The advantages of the various progressions in the aforesaid technology had aroused varied deliberations and judicial precariousness in Nigeria up until the enactment of the new Evidence Act in 2011 which is yielding its statutory powers towards ameliorating some troubles encountered in Nigerian Courts via admissibility of electronically generated evidence. A great deal has been stated in Nigerian law of evidence concerning the relevance of private and public documents, primary and secondary documentary evidence as well as the issues of improperly obtained evidence. Those are dealt with in this paper.
Keywords: Relevancy, Admissibility, Electronic Evidence, Primary and Secondary Evidence, Evidence Act 2011
JEL Classification: K40, K41, K10, K20, K11, K12, K13, K14, K22, K23, K31, K32, K33, K34, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation