Preface

101
procedure. It is trite that the rules of court or procedure are not made just for the
sake of making but in order to be followed by the courts concerned and to be
guided by their provisions with the sole aim of as precisely as possible arriving at
justice or substantial justice. Consequently a flagrant violation of the rules will
only result in occasioning injustice. For this reason, therefore, it is necessary for
cadis to limit their actions within the confine of the rules and to guard against any
action that may directly or indirectly be inconsistent with the provisions of the
rules. Otherwise their decisions are bound to be tempered with and reversed on
appeal.
In the famous Islamic book of procedure ''Ihkamul-Ahkam'' a commentary
on ''Tuhfatul Hukkam'' page 11 it is postulated that observance of practice and
procedure is one of the six ingredients of a valid judgment under Sharia and
absence of any one of these ingredients renders the judgment invalid and must be
quashed on appeal. The text reads thus:
Now turning to the case in hand, it is clear from the record of proceedings of
the lower court at our disposal that what was before the lower court was a case of
inheritance. Order XIII rule 77(1)-(5) deal with the procedure on how the case of
inheritance is commenced before a Cadi court. The rules have spelt out in stages
the procedure of commencing action and conducting trial in an inheritance case
before a Cadi court. Going by rule 77(1) to be read together with order II rule 3 of
the Rules no one will be left in doubt that inheritance cases are commenced the