In legal proceedings parties are the persons whose names appear on the record as plaintiffs or defendants. In other words, A party is a person who takes part in the performance of any act or who are directly interested in any affair, contract, conveyance or who are actively concerned in the prosecution or defence of any legal proceedings.[1]
- Necessary parties
A necessary party is one who is not only interested in the subject matter of the proceedings but whom in his absence, the proceedings cannot be fairly and judiciously decided.[2]In other words the question to be settled in the action between the existing parties must be a question which cannot be properly settled unless the necessary party to the particular claim is joined in the action.
- Proper parties
These are persons who though not interested in the Plaintiffโs claim but are made parties for some good reasons. For example, where an action is brought to rescind a contract, any person is a proper party to it who was active or concurring in the matters which gave the plaintiff the right to rescind.
- Desirable party
Desirable parties are those who have an interest or who may be affected by the result of the proceedings. For example, in AG Ondo State v AG Federation and 35others,[3] (otherwise known as Anti-corruption Act case), the plaintiff instituted an action against the AG Federation and joined the remaining 35 States of Nigeria simply because the outcome of the suit may affect the other states.
- Parties by standing by
This is a person whose interest is involved, or is in issue in an action and who knowingly chose to stand by and let others fight his battle for him. The court has held that such a party is equally bound by the result in the same way as if he were a party.[4]
- Parties by intervention
Parties may be allowed to intervene in actions where they were originally neither plaintiffs nor defendants. A person who makes himself or herself a party to a suit on his own intervention is referred to as an intervener.
It is usually a procedure by which a third person not originally a party to the suit, but claiming an interest in the subject-matter comes to the case in order to protect his right or interpose his claim. [5]
On the procedure, the relevant rules of court should be referred to.
โ Nominal Parties
These are those so made parties generally by virtue of offices, social or political designation example the Attorney general of either the state or the federation.
โ Aggrieved Partyย โย Who is an aggrieved party
To be aggrieved, a person must have legal rights that are adversely affected, having been harmed by an infringement of legal rights. A person aggrieved must be a person who has suffered a legal grievance, a person against whom a decision has been pronounced which has wrongfully deprived him of something or wrongfully refused him something or wrongfully affected his title to something. A person whose legal right was invaded by the forfeiture order, whose financial interest was directly and adversely affected by the said Decree and whose right or property may be established or divested.[6]
โ Alternation/substitution of parties
Generally, substitution of parties should be allowed in deserving cases, upon the furnishing to the Court, cogent reasons for the substitution.[7] Such reasons may be as a result of death, bankruptcy, assignment, transmission or devolution of interest or liability of a party to the suit or appeal, where the need to substitute is obvious in fact and in law.[8]
โ How to determine whether a party is a proper party
Proper parties are determined by the court by examining both the writ and the statement of claim.[9]
[1]Green v Green (1987) 3 NWLR (Pt 60) 80.
[2]Azubuike v PDP and others 2014 LPELR 22258 (SC) 16 โ 7 paras A-C;ย Greenย v Green (2001) FWLR (Part 76) 795 at 814.
[3](2002) 9 NWLR Pt 772.
[4]In Re Lart (1986) 2 Ch. D. 788; Leeds v, Amherst 16 L.J. Ch. 5; Esiaka v Obiasogwu 14 W.A.C.A. 178; Abuakwa v Adanse (1957) 3 All E.R. 559.
[5]Odeleye and others v Adepegba and others (2000) LPELR-6799(CA) 23-24 paras.D-A.
[6]Alhaja Afusat Ijelu and others v Lagos State Development & Property Corporation and others (1992) NWLR (Pt 266) 414; (1992) LPELR 1464; Abacha v FRN (2014) LPELR-22014(SC)ย 50-51 paras. E-C.
[7]RE: Apeh and others v PDP and others (2017) LPELR-42035 (SC) 35-6, paras. G-F; Insider Communications Ltd. v Citi Bank and another (2019) LPELR-47005(CA) 14-16, paras.D-B.
[8]Eyesan v Sanusi (1984) 4 SC 115 at 137; Hadejia v Ladan and others (2017) LPELR-43368(CA); Atandairo v Dodo and others (2018) LPELR-45139(CA); RE: Apeh and others v PDP and (2017) LPELR-42035 (SC) 35-6, paras. G-F; Insider Communications Ltd v Citi Bank and anotherย (2019) LPELR-47005(CA) 14-16 paras.D-B.
[9]Ibrahim v Musa (2019) LPELR-47757(CA) 16 paras C-D.