Ground of Appeal on Question of Law: A Discourse on Type of Appeal in Double Appeal in Civil Matters

This paper is a discourse on the type of appeal by which a right of appeal can be exercised in double appeal from High Court to Court of Appeal in civil matter, where the ground of appeal involves question of law alone. There are two types of appeal provided in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. The paper shall consider the types of appeal, grounds of appeal, particularly, ground of appeal on question of law alone, double appeal, and the principle of similarity rule of statutory interpretation. But, first, the paper will delve into the Nigerian legal system, hierarchy of courts in Nigeria in relation to this discourse and the contextual meaning of appeal. The research methodology adopted in the course of this study is the doctrinal methodology. It was discovered that, although there seems to be no pronouncement of the apex court in respect of this issue in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, but there is such pronouncement of the Court on same issue under the 1979 Constitution. Consequently, the paper suggests that by the application of the principle of similarity rule of statutory interpretation, this issue is viewed to be settled by the apex court and final arbiter in the judicial ladder pending any further pronouncement on the issue by the same court on the extant Constitution.

Keywords: Appeal, Double appeal, Grounds of law, Civil matters, Right of appeal, Court decision.