COKER, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The United Calabar Company was the plaintiff in an action instituted by it in the High Court, Calabar, against the respondents, then defendants, and in which the plaintiff claimed special and general damages from the defendants for wrongfully terminating a contract of work entered into by the parties. The particulars of damages, later itemized, were expressed on the writ as follows:-
Special Damages 3,750 pounds
General Damages 6,250pounds
TOTAL 10,000pounds
By its statement of claim, later filed and delivered, the plaintiff avers that his firm were registered under the Registration of Business Names (Act) as stevedores; that by an agreement dated the 1st October, 1961, between the parties the plaintiff was to perform stevedoring services for and/or at the instance of the defendants at the port of Calabar for monetary consideration; that the plaintiff did perform these services and that in contravention of the provisions of the agree…