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ACQUIESCENCE VS WAIVER, DISTINCTION

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Acquiescence imports tacit consent. It is the giving of an implied consent to a transaction, to the accrual of a right, or to any act, by one’s mere silence or without express assent or acknowledgment. Waiver, on the other hand, is the intentional or voluntary relinquishment of a known right, or such conduct as warrants an inference of the relinquishment of such right or when one dispenses with the performance of something one is entitled to exact or when one in possession of any right, whether conferred by law or by contract, with full knowledge of the material facts does or forebears to do something, the doing of which or the failure or forbearance to do which is in consistent with the right or his intention to rely upon it. The party against whom the doctrine of waiver is raised must: (a) be aware of the act or omission; and (b) do some equivocal act adopting or recognising the act or omission.
In this case, the trial court was right in holding that the mere refusal or failure of the appellant to protest the alteration in the rate of interest when he received his statement of account could not amount to a waiver of his right to challenge same by action. [Ariori v. Elemo (1983) 1 SCNI,It 1 at 27; Adio v. A. G, 0yo State (1990) 7 NWLR (Pt. 163) 448; Odu’a Investment Co. Ltd v. Talabi (1991) 1 NWLR (Pt. 170) 761]

– L.A. Ayanlere v. Federal Mortgage Bank of Nig. Ltd. (1998) – CA/K/186/96

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acquiescence, waiver

ACQUIESCENCE CANNOT SUCCEED WHERE PARTY ON LAND WITH LEAVE OF LANDLORD

The defence of acquiescence presupposes adverse possession. Such a plea cannot succeed where, as in this case, the appellants were on the land with the leave and licences of the respondents. They ought to know that their root of title derived from the respondents. In putting up those 5 buildings, they could not be acting in the bona fide belief that they were owners. Since laches and acquiescence are equitable reliefs, the bona fides of the possessor becomes material.

– Oputa JSC. Gbadamosi v. Bello (1985)

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ACQUIESCENCE MUST HAVE AMOUNTED TO FRAUD

In Abbey v. Ollenu (1954) 14 WACA 567 at 568, the West African Court of Appeal adopted and quoted with approval the dictum of Fry J. in Willmot v. Barber (1880) 15 CH.D 96 at 105 thus: “It has been said that the acquiescence which will deprive a man of his legal rights must amount to fraud and in my view that is an abbreviated statement of a very true proposition. A man is not to be deprived of his legal rights unless he acted in such a way as would make it fraudulent for him to set up those rights.” See also Gerrard v. O’Reilly 3 D and WAR 414.

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ACQUIESCENCE IN LAND – LEAVING A STRANGER TO BUILD ON LAND

“If for instance, a stranger begins to build on my land, supposing it to be his own, and I, perceiving his mistake, abstain from setting him right, and leave him to persevere in his error, a Court of Equity will not allow me afterwards to assert my title to the land on which he had expended money on, the supposition that the land was his own. It considers that when I saw the mistake into which he had fallen, it was my duty to be active, and to state my adverse title; and that it would be dishonest in me to remain wilfully passive on such an occasion in order afterward to profit by the mistake which I might have prevented”. See Lord Cranworth in Ramsden v. Dyson (1866) 1 H.L. 140: see also Rafat v. Ellis (1954) 14WACA. 430.

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PROCEDURAL WAIVER

The law is very well settled that counsel may waive a defect in procedure which is procedural law. What is waiver and what are the consequences when counsel waives his right? Waiver is the intentional and voluntary abandonment of a right. It is either express or implied from conduct. Where a party has waived his right to insist that the correct procedure must be followed, he cannot later on appeal, resile and complain of what he has waived. Put in another way, a right that has been waived is lost. The reasoning being that once the other party acts upon the waiver, the party waiving the right can no longer go back on the waiver and act as if it was never waived. See Ariori & Ors v Elemo & Ors (1983) 14 NSCC P.1; Chief John Eze v Dr. C.I. Okechukwu & 7 Ors (2002) 14 SCM p.105.

— O. Rhodes-Vivour, JSC. Bakari v. Ogundipe (2020) – SC.514/2015

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CONCEPT OF WAIVER OF RIGHT

My lords, in law the concept of waiver is one that presupposes that the person who is to enjoy a benefit or who has the choice of two benefits is fully aware of his right to the benefit or benefits, but he either neglects to exercise his right to the benefit, or where he has a choice of two, he decides to take one but not both. Thus, if one party by his conduct leads another to believe that the strict rights arising under contract between himself and another will not be insisted upon, intending that the other person should act on that belief and does not act on it, then the first party has waived his right and will not afterwards be allowed to insist on the strict rights when it will be inequitable for him so to do. In Nigerian Bank of Commerce and Industry v. Integrated Gas (Nigeria) Limited (2005) 4 NWLR (Pt. 916) @ 642-643, the Supreme Court pronounced with finality on this issue inter alia thus: If one party by his conduct leads another to believe that the strict rights arising under the contract will not be insisted upon, intending that the other should act on that belief, and he does act on it, then the first party will not afterwards be allowed to insist on the strict right when it will be inequalities for him to do so. Thus where the defendant relied upon the failure of the plaintiff to perform a condition of the contract as to the precise time or mode of performance fixed by the contract as a ground for cancelling or repudiating the contract or as justifying his own refusal to perform his own obligation. The plaintiff may reply that the defendant has waived his right to insist that the contract should be or have been performed according to its original tenor. Waiver is not a cause of action, but a man may be debarred by the doctrine of waiver from asserting that an original condition precedent is still operative and binding waiver may be oral or written or inferred form conduct. See also United Calabar and Co v. Elder Dempster Lines Ltd (1972) All NLR 244; Tsvetan, Dimitrov v. Multichoice Nigeria Ltd (2005) 13 NWLR (Pt. 943) 391; Ariori v. Elemo (1983) 1 SCNLR: Total Nigeria Plc v. Chief Elijah Omoniyi Ajayi (2004) 3 NWLR (Pt. 869) @ pp. 285-286. In Nigeria Universal Bank Ltd v. Samba Petroleum Company Ltd (2006) 12 NWLR (Pt. 993) @ p. 122, it was reiterated inter alia thus: Waiver carries some element of abandonment of a known legal right. By his conduct the person has given impression that he is not ready to pursue his legal right in the matter. He may not say so in specific words. He may not say so at all. But once his conduct shows that trend, a Court of Law will hold that he has waived his right. See also Prince Sikiru Adebayo Sobamowo v. Prince Alhaji Waheed Elemuren (2008) 11 NWLR (PT. 1097) @ 31; Nigeria Bank of Commerce and Industry v. Integrated Gas (Nigeria) Ltd (2005) 4 NWLR (Pt. 916) @ 642-643. See B. Stabilin and Co. Ltd v. Nwabueze Obasi (1997) 9 NWLR (Pt. 520) 293 @ p. 305. See also Bioku v. Light Machine (1986) 5 NWLR (Pt. 39) 42: Udochukwu v. Ngene (1992) 8 NWLR (Pt. 261) 565. In Guinness (Nig.) Plc v. Onegbadan (2012) 15 NWLR (Pt. 1322) 33 @ p. 50, it was also held inter alia thus: It is trite law that a person who is not under legal disability should be the best judge of his own interest. Where he had full knowledge of his rights, interest, benefits or profits conferred upon him by statute or accorded to him under a statute and intentionally yet interestingly decided to give up all or some of these statutory rights, he therefore cannot be heard to complain afterwards.

— B.A. Georgewill JCA. Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc V. Longterm Global Capital Limited & Ors. (CA/L/427/2016, 9 Mar 2018)

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DEFINITION OF WAIVER – Halsbury’s Laws

Halsbury’s Laws of England 4th Edition, Vol. 16 stated in its way thus: – “The primary meaning of waiver has been said to be the abandonment by way of confession and avoidance if the right is thereafter asserted, and is either express or implied from conduct, it may arise by virtue of a party making an election, for example whether or not to exercise a contractual right”.

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