Absolute justice is a mirage — Oyo CJ

“THE angle you stand and your interest defines your perception. There can never be an objective definition of justice. A loser will never admit justice has been done while a winner in a case will cry to high heavens that this is justice. Conceptually therefore to define justice, it is a fiction.”

These were the words of justice Munta Abimbola, the Chief Judge of Oyo State while speaking on the topic “Absolute justice: Fact or fiction’ at the University of Ibadan Faculty of Law 2018 lecture at the weekend.

According to the Chief Judge, “a judge will strive to give justice according to the law and what evidence has been placed before the judge. Justice in our courts is not a legal fiction but according to law and from ages, it is admitted that judges do not give judgment to impress as actors do, they do not give judgment to persuade as advocates do or go into historical facts as historians do.

“It is justice according to law; upholding as much as they can the requirements of the legal process and administer impartially to the rich or poor, the strong or the weak without fear or favour. Justice according to the law which is simply a measure ofjustice the law affords and desire to attain, contextually, therefore, justice is not a fiction in law courts. Absolute justice is a mirage,’ he stated.

Justice Abimbola explained that a legal principle that has developed as a means of settling disputes, especially in common law legal system is the principle of reasonable person that requires that the adjudicator puts himself in the shoes of a reasonable person in deciding an issue in controversy, adding that this appears to provide the characteristics of the perfect adjudicator; possesses all the traits that accord with the concept of justice; fairness, reason, impartial, lack of bias and proper.

“He possesses all the traits that accord with the concept ofjustice – fairness, reason, proper, just, impartial, lack of bias. Surely, with him at the helm of any case, absolute justice that is accepted by everyone would be the outcome?

“Unfortunately, it is my opinion that the reasonable person does not exist. In the utopian world ofjustice, everyone has the same moral values, same standards, same level of reasoning faculty, same psychological and emotional makeup, no religious or ethnic bias etc. however, that is obviously not the case.

“Therefore no set of individuals can be equally reasonable on every single issue. This means that the reasonable man’s test, although purported to be objective, is still subjective to the personal outlook of the person who has been placed into the shoes of the reasonable man,” he said.

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Justice Abimbola concluded that this could be gleaned in part of a judgment given by Justice Niki Tobi where he stated that the test of the reasonable man in Nigerian Courts is no more the man at the Clapham junction in London but one in anywhere in the Nigerian cities.

This he stated means that what is reasonable to the average man in Nigerian cities may not be reasonable to the man at the Clapham junction in London, adding that, “the cultural, religious and national differences of persons in Nigerian cities as opposed to persons in London means that the standard ofjustice for both sets of persons would be different.”

Also speaking, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo state, Oluseun Abimbola Esq. stated that if absolute justice exists as a fact, it means that at all times, all decisions of a court of law, given the same facts and narrations, ought to turn out the same, adding that, “laws are not necessarily couched in absolutes terms but in many cases give the judex and prosecutors a fair measure of discretion and room to manoeuvre which takes away the absoluteness in the outcome,”

He concluded that judges are human and the fallibility of judges has received judicial recognition by the Court of Appeal. “In other words, the best of men even judges are still men, not immune to errors. This challenge is in no way peculiar to Nigeria but cuts across different jurisdictions or countries,” Abimbola said.

On her part, Chief Folake Solanke (SAN) said the law should be practised according to laid down ethics and described as appalling the attitude of many lawyers especially the young ones and how they address issues in a pedestrian manner.

She urged law students to read and empower their minds, adding that customary laws must not be regarded as an inferior law.