International records / OpenAlex research

Flexibility of Damages for Conversion and Detinue

Hard cases test the virility of principles as well as the creativity of judges. So it was in Civil Design Construction Nig. Ltd v SCOA Nig. Ltd. recently decided by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. CDC v SCOA is attractive for its refreshing interpretation of the rarely litigated Hire Purchase Act and its application of the common law rules for the award of damages for conversion and detinue. On a deeper analysis, however, CDC v SCOA dramatises the sterility of a mechanistic approach to legal principles and the potentially ruinous consequences of such an approach for the victim of a tortfessor. F…