ANTON PILLER ORDER AS EQUITABLE PRE-EMPTIVE REMEDIES IN PRESERVATION OF SUBJECT MATTER AND RECOVERY OF DEBTS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Litigation is often very expensive and time consuming. Land cases can be in court sometimes for over ten years. Commerce cannot absorb such delay; speed and efficacy are becoming the criteria by which success in commercial litigation most especially debt recovery is to be judged, as legal practice is forced to match the ever increasing vigor of the market place. Many debtors are known to dissipate their assets both movable and immovable when they are threatened with litigations, so that in the event of court judgment, the creditors are left with nothing to fall back on, thereby leaving the court’s judgment unenforceable. To prevent a situation like this the courts have developed the law to take care of the interests of creditors. Procedures for the pre-emptive preservation of subject matter and recovery of debts have been developed lately from Anton Piller case (known as Anton Piller order or injunction). The writer will trace the historical development of this order, its applications and effectiveness in meeting with the demand of our modern commercial litigation, the success so far especially on preservation of the subject matter and prompt recovery of debts in Nigeria.