JUDICIAL EVALUATION OF EVIDENCE IN NIGERIA

– NGOZI ALILI ESQ

INTRODUCTION:

The legal profession has a symbol or logo which is feminine in nature, polite in approach and strict in determination. She is the “lady of justice”. She is blind but holds a scale in her left hand and a sword in her right hand. A black piece of clothe runs across her eyes, with both ends tied at her back. Her symbolic blindness shields her from influences extraneous to her determination to do justice to all manner of people while she uses the sword to keep the stream of justice pure and clear by warding off the enemies of justice with perversious intention. She feels the competing weight of justice and balances same with the scale in her hand without let or hindrance. She is blind in principle but all-seeing in practice. The “lady of justice” is immuned to human feelings and conducts capable of polluting the stream of justice and uses the weight and velocity of the swinging pendulums on the imaginary scale in her hand to determine the measure and balance of justice.

The Lady of Justice is a jurisprudential concept which translates to the judicial arm of modern Governments where Judges hear and determine disputes. The end product of every dispute heard and determined by a judge is known as “judgment or decision” the process of arriving at which is known as “evaluation of evidence”.