Facts:

We the publishers of the CLRN wish to express our sincere apologies for the undue delay in the publication of the 2007 index, which ought to have been published in 2008, this delay was due to serious logistic problems encountered by us and which we assure you has now been addressed. Also, while ensuring that the high standard to which we hold ourselves bound is preserved and improved upon now and in the future, we wish to assure all our subscribers of our unflinching commitment in keeping up the publishing of this unique law report.

Still keeping up with the innovative trend began in 2005 by the Publishers of the CLRN in reviewing and analyzing cases decided by the courts and reported in the CLRN of that year, we now present the 2007 index to be accompanied with a new compilation and cited as “CLRN Rev 2007”. In the 2007 index, six subject areas like Admiralty\Shipping Law, Company Law, Banking, Mortgage, Trademarks and Taxation were covered by invitees from a number of leading commercial law firms in Nigeria. We are indebted to the contributors and their firms, as is the entire legal community for these incisive and well compiled reviews.

Although, a run of the judicial decisions reported in the various issues of the 2007 CLRN are a reiteration of aged longed legal principles reechoed by the courts, the case of  ETI-OSA LOCAL GOVERNMENT vs. RUFUS JEGEDE & ANOR is very instructive in that the Court of Appeal was able to clarify with exactitude the source of power of the various tiers of government to impose taxes and levies and the corresponding role of the 1999 Constitution in checking this power through the establishment of the Joint Tax Board.

In this compilation there is general indexing of the subject matter and issues contained in the individual reports through the months of January 2007 to December 2007, and because of our style of employing affirmative statements in the headlines to quote 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; Ilo & Okoli; F. O. Akerele & Co; Strachan Partners and Pearchstone & Graeys.

Feyikemi Balogun
Editor
clrnltd@gmail.com
January 2008