Evaluation of evidence- Guidelines

In the process of evaluating of evidence the court must have regard to certain guidelines like (a) admissibility of the evidence(b) relevancy of the evidence(c) credibility of the evidence(d) conclusiveness of the evidence(e) probability of the evidence of one party more than that of the other. The trial court having satisfied itself that the foregoing have been complied with would then apply the law to the situation presented in the case before it so as to arrive at a conclusion one way or the otherSee Mogaji v. Odofin (1978)4 SC 91; Akibu v.Opaleye (1974)11 SC 139

Documentary evidence

Where there is oral as well as documentary evidence on an issue of fact the documentary evidence would be used as a hanger to assess the oral testimony. See Abatan v. Awudu (2004)17NWLR (pt.902)430; Kimdey v. Gov; Gongola State (1988)2NWLR (Pt.77)445

Public Document

A document is a public document if :
(a) It was made under a strict duty to inquire into all the circumstances.
(b) It was concerned with a public matter although the public matter need to be the concern of the entire community.(
c) It is meant for public inspection.Did you know thatOnce a document is marked rejected it stays rejected for the purpose of the trial in which it was marked rejected and the defects cannot be cured during the said trial.
See: Agbaje v. Adigun (1993)1 NWLR (Pt.269) 271; Bello v. Gov; Kogi State (1997) 9NWLR (Pt. 521) 520N.B.
A public document is thus a document that is made for the public or at least a section of the public making use of it.