DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE- MATRIMONIAL PROCEEDING- A Petitioner is not required to personally testify under the Matrimonial Causes Act and Matrimonial Causes Rules in order to be eligible for the reliefs sought.
Issue:
Whether it is mandatory for a petitioner to testify personally before he/she will be entitled to the reliefs sought
Section 44 (3) of the Matrimonial Causes Act provides that – “3) The Court shall not grant a decree of dissolution of marriage without receiving evidence by the petitioner in support of the petition.” The import of the above-quoted subsection is that a decree of dissolution of marriage shall not be granted unless evidence is led in support thereof by the Petitioner. The subsection did not postulate that the Petitioner must personally give evidence in Court so long as she can lead evidence through other sources, oral or documentary, or both. In short, the rule of evidence applicable in civil proceedings, including the various ways in which a Court may regard facts as proved under the rules of evidence apply, mutatis mutandisi to proceedings under the Matrimonial Causes Act and Rules, except where such application is expressly prohibited either by the Act or the Matrimonial Causes Rules. There is nothing in Sections 15 (2) (3); 44(3) and 82 (1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act or Order XV (1) of the Matrimonial Causes Rules prohibiting the application of the Rules of evidence in civil proceedings to proceedings under the Matrimonial Causes Act.
Therefore, in view of the applicability of the rules of evidence in civil proceedings to matrimonial causes, all that a Petitioner need do in order to prove his/her petition is to call witness(s) to testify to facts tending to establish the ground upon which the petition was anchored. A Petitioner may also prove his/her petition by producing and tendering documents which will prove the ground of the petition. In doing so, the physical presence of the Petitioner in open Court is not a sine qua non, so long as witness(es) is/are available to testify on behalf of the Petitioner.”
Per M. I. SIRAJO ,JCA (Pp. 17-19, para. C-C)
It can be deduced from the above that, under the Matrimonial Causes Act and its accompanying rules, a Petitioner (the person who initiates the legal proceedings) is not obligated to appear in court or give testimony in person to qualify for the reliefs being sought. A Petitioner may rely on other forms of evidence, like documents or testimony from witness(es), to support his or her case.
Solomon Agbator, LLB, LLM, PhD (in View)
(Offering legal principles and analysis).
Very Solid and wayyyy to go👍🏼
Thank you my learned friend