BRETT, F.J. (Delivering the Judgment of the Court): The appellant was the third of three defendants in an action brought by four members of the Disu Family of Lagos to set aside the sale and conveyance of a piece of family land by the first two defendants to the appellant. It is well settled that such a transaction requires the consent of all the members of the family, or of a substantial majority of them, and that it is voidable at the instance of those who did not consent, provided they act timeously: Mogaji v. Nuga (1960) 5 F.S.C. 107.
The appeal involves two questions as to the evidence on whether the respondents consented to the sale or not. Two of the plaintiffs, and the next friend of a third, who is a minor, gave evidence denying consent as part of the case for the plaintiffs, but the fourth gave no evidence, and when the first defendant came to make his defence his counsel wished to call the plaintiff who had not given evidence. No objection was taken by counsel for the plaint…