We are going to talk about case laws, these are the legal opinions given by the jurists and judicial decisions of the courts in respect of matters over real property that can be brought by contending parties before the courts to be decided by the courts.

Our court structure in Nigeria varies from one State to another since Nigeria is a Federation of States.

The arrangement set out below may reflect the court structure in Nigeria:


Supreme Court
^
Court of Appeal
^
High Courts(States, Federal and FCT,Abuja)-Customary/Sharia Courts of Appeal
^
Magistrate Courts-Upper Area Courts-Customary Courts Grade 1-District Courts
^
Area Courts-Customary Courts-Native Courts
^
Village Councils-Chiefs in Council

Some of these courts exercise original jurisdiction in respect of certain matters of land. For instance, in the case of Adisa v. Oyinwola (2000) 10 NWLR part 674, p. 116 it was held that where the land is the subject of a Right of Occupancy or is in an urban area, the High Court of a State has jurisdiction to try any dispute pertaining to it. The jurisdiction of the High Court also covers land matters that has to deal with customary right of occupancy or those in non-urban areas as seen in Odetola v. Bamidele (2007) ALL FWLR, part 387, p.841.

Appeals over land matters that has been decided by the Area or Customary Courts may be dealt with on appeal by the High Court in some States also. The Chiefs-in-Council for instance, is not sanctioned by most legislative framework in Nigeria, adjudicate many land disputes in many non-urban areas of the country. In the case of Awosile v. Sotunbo (1992) 6 SCNJ, p.182 it was noted that where the parties to such disputes consider their decisions as binding, the decisions of such councils are respected and obeyed. At times they customarily arbitrate land disputes and so long as certain essentials like;
(a) The parties have voluntarily submitted the dispute to customary arbitration;
(b) The parties have consented to be bound by the decision of the customary arbitrators;
(c) The decision of the arbitrators was in accordance with the native law and custom of the people; and
(d) A decision was reached by the arbitrators and award published.
are found to exist in their decisions, they are accepted by the higher courts as binding on the parties. Although, the decisions at the customary arbitration is not considered as a means of proving title to land in Nigeria, it may assist in establishing the traditional history of root of title base on the custom of the people as seen in Nruama v. Ebuzoeme (2007) ALL FWLR, p.347, at 740.

Appeals may lie from the decision of a lower court to a higher court. As a result of the common law principle of "stare decisis" (The sacred principle of English law by which precedents are authoritative and binding, and must be followed), the judgment and opinions expressed by a Superior Court binds a Lower Court and the latter must follow such decision. As long as the facts of the cases before both courts are similar, a Lower Court is never permitted to depart from the decisions of the Superior Court, see the case of University of Lagos v. Olaniyan (1985) 16 NSCC, part 1, p.98.


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