Legal Nuggets (80): Essence of the Doctrine or Agreement.- By Adedotun Habeeb Adetunji, LL.M (M.IoD), FCAI

A party who voluntarily entered into a contract is bound by it, no matter how unfavourable it may turn out to be, as long as he entered into the contract fully conscious of what he was doing, and had willingly signed same, and collected the consideration which he enjoyed and the subject matter of the contract was lawful.
OKORONKWO vs. ORJI(2019)LPELR-46515(CA)

ISSUE: SANCTITY OF CONTRACT-
Essence of the doctrine of sanctity of contract or agreement

PRINCIPLE:
"...Appellant appears to have forgotten the effect of the contract agreement (Exhibit G) he voluntarily entered into, and was bound by it, no matter how unfavourable it may have turned out to be, as long as he entered into the agreement fully conscious of what he was doing, and had willingly signed same, and collected the consideration which he enjoyed and the subject matter of the agreement was lawful! The doctrine of sanctity of contract makes Exhibit G (and Exhibit H which came out of Exhibit G) binding on the Appellant and enforceable. In the case of Arjay Ltd. Vs. AMS Ltd. (2003) LPELR-55 SC, the apex Court said: "It is elementary law that where parties have entered into a contract or an agreement, they are bound by the provisions of the contract or agreement. This is because a party cannot ordinarily resile from a contract or agreement just because he later found that the conditions of the contract or agreement are not favourable to him. This is the whole essence of the doctrine of sanctity of contract or agreement. The Court is bound to construe the terms only in the event of an action arising thereform... Oduye Vs. Nigeria Airways Ltd. (1987) 2 NWLR (Pt.55) 126." See also Nwaribe Vs. Owerri Municipal Council & Ors. (2015) LPELR - 24433 CA, where Agube, JCA said:
"I think our convenient point of departure shall be to restate the position of the law of contract, that parties of full age, who have voluntarily entered into an agreement particularly as in the instant case... they are bound by the terms of that contract and neither of the parties can alter the terms, unilaterally, nor can the Court add, alter or subtract or read into the contract, terms which the parties did not agree upon. This doctrine of the law of contract is what has been referred to as the sanctity of contract, usually expressed in the Latin maxim "pacta sunt servanda" which means "agreement must be kept" see Uwah Vs. Akpabio (2014) 7 NWLR (Pt.1407) 472 at 489; Best (Nig.) Ltd. Vs. B-H (Nig.) Ltd. (2011) 5 NWLR (Pt.1239) 95; A.G Rivers State Vs. A.G. Akwa Ibom State (2011) 8 NWLR (Pt.1248) 31; JFS Investment Ltd. Vs. Brawal Line Ltd. (2010) 19 NWLR (Pt.1225) 495; Alade Vs. Alic Nig. Ltd. (2010) 18 NWLR (Pt.1226) 111; P.M. Ltd. Vs. The M.V. Dancing Sister (2012) 4 NWLR (Pt.1289) 169 and Ihunwo Vs. Ihunwo (2013) 8 NWLR (Pt.1357)." Per MBABA, JCA.(Pp.30-32,Paras.B-C).