A legal practitioner has highlighted the importance of vacation courts in Nigeria’s justice system, explaining that they provide an avenue for courts to deal with urgent matters during periods when regular courts are on annual vacation.
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The lawyer, in a commentary shared by OBRA Legal LP following a visit to a vacation court presided over by Hon. Justice Ajogwu, said judicial vacation does not mean that emergencies, criminal matters or disputes requiring immediate intervention cease to arise.
According to the lawyer, although regular courts ordinarily do not sit during the vacation period, designated vacation judges remain available to entertain urgent applications, particularly where delaying judicial intervention could cause irreparable injury to a party or defeat the purpose of a pending action.
“During vacation, the regular courts don’t sit. However, crimes are still being committed and other matters do arise,” the lawyer explained.
The practitioner said vacation courts are therefore established to hear matters of urgency and cases in which a party may suffer injury if a court order or injunction is not granted before the regular courts resume sitting.
A central function of such emergency intervention, the lawyer explained, is to preserve the res the subject matter of the dispute so that it is not destroyed, altered or dealt with in a manner that could render subsequent proceedings ineffective.
“In order to save the res, the vacation court judge will give an order or injunction to prohibit any action that can affect the subject matter or bone of contention,” the lawyer stated.
Illustrating the point with proceedings witnessed during the court visit, the practitioner said Justice Ajogwu granted an injunction upon an ex parte application restraining family members connected to one of the parties from burying a deceased person on land that formed the subject matter of the pending dispute.
According to the account, the purpose of the order was to prevent any action that could alter the state of the disputed property before the substantive issues between the parties were determined.
The lawyer used the proceeding to explain that vacation courts are not substitutes for the regular judicial calendar but serve as an emergency mechanism to ensure that urgent rights and disputed property are protected during judicial recess.
The intervention also underscores the role of interim and ex parte orders in preserving the status quo pending fuller consideration of the dispute, particularly where waiting until the end of the court vacation could cause irreversible consequences.
The lawyer concluded by urging members of the public to understand vacation courts as an important safeguard designed to ensure that access to urgent judicial remedies does not completely cease simply because the regular courts are on vacation.
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