INTERLOCUTORY JUDGMENT OR ORDER

• Date: 06 February 2019

(1) "Where only an issue is the subject matter of an order or appeal the determination of that Court which is a final decision on the issue or issues before it, which does not finally determine the rights of the parties, is in my respectful opinion interlocutory." - Per Ogundare, J.C.A. in Okokhue v. Obadan Suit No. CA/B/178/ 88; (1989) 5 N.W.L.R. (Pt. 120) 185 at 201.

(2) "An interlocutory judgment: One given in the process of the cause upon plea, proceeding or defects which is only intermediate and does not finally determine or complete the suit. One which determines some preliminary or subordinate point or plea or settles some step or question but does not adjudicate the ultimate right of the parties or finally put the case out of Court. Thus, a judgment or order passed upon any provisional or accessory claim or contention in general is merely interlocutory, although it may finally dispose of that particular matter. An interlocutory judgment is one which reserves or leaves some further question or direction for future determination." - Per Edozie, J.C.A. in Adamu v. A-G. Borno State Suit No. CA/J/ 57/94; (1996) 8 N.W.L.R. (Pt. 465) 203 at 218.

(3) "The term "interlocutory judgment" means that such a judgment is interlocutory only as to the amount, but is final as to the right of the plaintiff to recover damages. Thereafter the appellant would be entitled to make an application to the Court for the ascertainment of the precise amount of damages to which he might be entitled. As I have already observed, the trial Judge in such a case may direct any method for such ascertainment but it is usual to direct that evidence be given for this purpose. These, the appellant failed to do in the present case." - Per Iguh, J.S.C. in Maja v. Samouris Suit No. S.C. 72/1997; (2002) 7 N.W.L.R. (Pt. 765) 78 at 104.

(4) "What then is an interlocutory order? An interlocutory or intermediate order is an order made between the commencement of an action and its final determination. It is indeed an order made to clear an issue on which the parties to a cause have taken divergent views which have to be instantly resolved by the trial Court. Such an order does not finally dispose of the rights of the parties. I am of strong opinion that the trial Court in the instant case did not make any interlocutory order legally so called when it admitted one of the two letters tendered without objection from the adverse party as exhibit P6. It is true that the trial Court...