Title of the Article: Trial De Novo: A Clog in the Administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria.
Author
F.E. Ojeih, F.E. Ojeih, Deputy Director, the Nigerian Law School, Enugu Campus
Abstract
Law is generally a very dynamic subject and the practice of it is also dynamic. Just as the society is changing every day the practice of law ought to change to reflect the changing nature of our society. It has, however, been observed that while the society is changing, most of our laws and the practice of same remain unchanged thereby denying law of its proper function. One area of our law practice that has suffered in this regard is the practice of starting a case de novo; that is, starting a concluded case afresh. It does not matter how many years the case may have lasted and in most cases very important witnesses or indeed parties to the suit must have died. This unfortunate procedure is as frustrating as it is expensive and the end result is definitely a denial of justice. In continental Europe and some other countries, they do not start de novo. Instead they continue the case from where the last judge that was handling it stopped. The purpose of this paper is to examine the meaning of de novo trial; the difference between it and retrial if any, the difference between de novo trial and appeal, circumstances that may necessitate de novo trial, the legal consequences of the procedure and ultimately to make suggestions for the way forward.