The Compellability for Attendance of a Child through the Instrumentality of Subpoena in Civil Trials

Résumé

A trial is one of the mechanisms set in place for the settlement of disputes and the attainment of justice in society. Trials are conducted on the strength of the evidence of the witnesses adduced through their testimonies. Witnesses can attend the trial voluntarily or under compulsion. This work ventures into the compulsory attendance of child witnesses at trial through the mechanism of subpoena. This work briefly considered the types of subpoena known as subpoena ad testificandum, subpoena duces tecum, and subpoena ad testificandum et duces tecum. The problem with this research is that the requirement of a sufficient intelligence test as required by law has been held that it must not be reduced to the record of the court. This makes it difficult to ascertain whether the stipulation of the law has been complied with or not. It is the aim of this paper to proffer pragmatic suggestions for better administration of justice. This work finds that there is a lack of uniformity in age and a lack of recording sufficient intelligence test questions by the court. Doctrinal methodology was adopted in this research work. It is recommended herein on what constitutes the age of a child and the need for uniformity of age; that sufficient intelligent test questions should be recorded and form part of the record of proceedings