LEGAL NUGGETS (Series 107) - ISSUE: The Essence of the Illiterate Protection Act is to Protect an Illiterate from Documents Prepared on His Behalf which Could Affect his Interest Adversely..- By Adedotun Habeeb Adetunji, LL.M (M.IoD), FCAI

PRINCIPLE
"The essence of the Illiterate Protection Act is to protect an illiterate from documents prepared on his behalf which could affect his interest adversely.

In this case, PW1 was in court and adopted it as his evidence. Further, the statement was prepared by the respondent's legal practitioner, and was thus coverer by section 5 of the Illiterate Protection Act". Per Jauro, JCA (P. 228, paras. D-F).

ISSUE:
ON WHAT SUMMATION AND EVALUATION OF EVIDENCE RESPECTIVELY ENTAILS AND DISTINCTION BETWEEN BOTH

PRINCIPLE:
"There is a fine line of distinction between summary of evidence and evaluation of evidence. The former is a review or synopsis of the evidence, while the latter is assessment of the evidence using accepted parameters such as admissibility, relevance, probability, conclusiveness and placing the evidence on the imaginary scale of justice in order to see which one has more weight.

 In this case, the trial court summarized the testimony of witnesses, evaluated their evidence and made findings contrary to the appellant's argument that it only summarized the evidence and pronounced its decision.