“And justice is not a one-way traffic. It is not justice for the appellant only. Justice is not even a three-way traffic-justice for the appellant accused of a heinous crime of murder, for the victim, the murdered man, the deceased, “whose blood is crying to heaven for vengeance” and finally, justice for the society at large-the society whose social norms and values had been desecrated and broken by the criminal act complained of.”
“In Nigeria even under a Military Government, the law is no respecter of persons, principalities, governments or powers and that the courts stand between the citizens and the government alert to see that the state or Government is bound by the law and respects the law.”
“ ……. The facts of this case offers yet another solid example of the moral decay in our society. That a Bank Manager appointed to manage, and entrusted with the bank’s money, should steal the very money entrusted to him shows how deep the “get rich quick’ virus has eaten into our social fabric. That an Accountant appointed and paid to keep the books of his bank, will burn those books in order to destroy all evidence of his theft, looks grossly machivellian. And yet this is what one sees every day. It is the recurring decimal of theft followed by arson. This raises a social question – Are we not paying very dearly for the wrong emphasis we have place on the mere acquisition of wealth not minding how it is acquired? After all the view of criminology is that society prepares the crime and the criminal merely commits it. Do we not need urgently a reorientation and a transvaluation of our value system especially our views on money? That is the Question for our society.
 

Table of Contents
Part I
Profile of Justice Oputa .................................................P. 1
Part II
His Notable Pronouncements
Action ........................................................................P. 19
Admiralty ...................................................................P. 23
Appeals ......................................................................P. 24
Banking ......................................................................P. 45
Chieftaincy .................................................................P. 47
Civil Procedure ............................................................P. 48
Company Law .............................................................P. 51
Conflicts of Law ...........................................................P. 52
Constitutional Law .........................................................P. 54
Contract .......................................................................P. 67
Courts ..........................................................................P. 69
Criminal Law .................................................................P. 82
Criminal Procedure .........................................................P. 88
Doctrine of Precedent .....................................................P. 111
Equity ...........................................................................p. 115
Evidence ........................................................................P. 117
Federal High Court ...........................................................P. 126
Interpretation of Statutes ..................................................P. 127
Judgments and Orders .......................................................P. 131
Jurisdiction .......................................................................P. 131
Jurisprudence ....................................................................P. 136
Justice ............................................................................... P. 138
Land Law .............................................................................P. 140
Landlord and Tenant ..............................................................P. 149
Law..................................................................................... P. 153
Legal Practitioner ...................................................................P. 154
Locus Standi ..........................................................................p. 158
Master and Servant .................................................................P. 160
Mercantile Law P. 162
Partnership P. 165
Practice and Procedure .............................................................P. 166
Religion ..................................................................................p. 177
Shipping .................................................................................p. 178
Tort ........................................................................................P. 180
Trusts .....................................................................................P. 185
Words and Phrases ...................................................................P. 186