Facts:

The publishers have decided to compile an annual publication, the first of its kind in Nigeria to be known as CLRN Annual Review (2004 – 2005) and to be cited as “CLRN Rev 2005” It is designed to be a companion to CLRN in the year preceding its publication. The contributors are experienced legal practitioners in different areas of commercial law. They were requested to cover particular assigned topics, while valuating the cases reported in the year(s) under review, the impact of the cases on existing law; comparison, where relevant with previously decided cases and cases also extracted from their wealth of knowledge.

The result is that the contributors were thus able to cover more than one case in each article as long as they were relevant to the subject area and remained noteworthy. We are indebted to the contributors and their firms, as is the entire legal community for the incisive reviews.

All the areas covered in this review rank differently in order of importance and it just would not be suitable to attempt to impose our precedence on any reader. The impact of MV Panormos Bay (2004) 10 CLRN 77 and Lignes Aeriennes Congolaises v. Air Atlantic (2005) 11 CLRN 55, on the prospects of successfully enforcing a ‘foreign jurisdiction selection clause’ under the Admiralty Jurisdiction Act 1991 is notable in its radical departure from common expectation. Certainly, the Supreme Court put an end to any speculation regarding the applicability of a common law rule about the effect of exclusion clauses that attempt to exempt liability for fundamental breaches – now found worthless at least in some States in the case of Nigeria International Messengers Ltd v. Pegofor (2005) 7 CLRN 1

The other area covered in this compilation is a general indexing of subject matter and issues contained in the individual reports through the months of October 2004 to December 2005. Because of the affirmative statements used in the headlines to quoted portions of the judges’ decisions, we have been able to bring the researcher closer to locating in quick time the actual decision that is being sought. The aim is to discard with the need to comb volumes of reports under a quare “on when the court can award interest” only to find that the case is not one suited to the research at hand.

The articles have been subjected to general editing where necessary. In all, we are extremely proud to record yet another first in Nigerian Law reporting. Even more gratitude for the time and energies endowed by the following commercial law firms in Nigeria Ajumogobia & Okeke; Aluko & Oyebode; Olaniwun Ajayi; Olawoyin & Olawoyin, Ilo & Okoli and Professor Olusegun Yerokun.

Olasupo Shasore
Editor
supo@ajumogobiaokeke.com
January 2006