BURDEN OF PROOF ON PLEADINGS

• Date: 07 September 2019

"The concept of burden of proof on the pleadings has an ancient ancestry, Pickup v. Thames Ins. Co 3 Q.B.D. 594, 600; and Wakelin v. L&S. W. Railway 12 App Cas. 41, 45. Its contemporary affirmation can be found in such popular cases like Joseph Constantine Steamship Line Ltd. v. Imperial Smelting Corporation (1942) A.C. 154 174; Seldon v. Davidson (1968) 1 W.L.R. 1083. Leading authorities on the English Law of Evidence have endorsed this usage, see, for example, Phipson on Evidence, (11th Edition), paragraph 92; page 40: "Burden of proof on the pleadings." In Imana v. Robinson (1979) 3-4 S.C. 1, Aniagolu, J.S.C. delivering the unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court, approvingly adopted the exposition in Phipson on Evidence (supra) as the Nigerian law on the subject: "The burden of proof, in this sense, rests upon the party, whether plaintiff or defendant, who substantially asserts the affirmative of the issue.It is an ancient rule founded on consideration of good sense, and it should not be departed from without strong reasons. It is fixed at the beginning of the trial by the state of the pleadings, and it is...