BL – May 2014 – L1 – SA – Q1 – The Nigerian Legal System

Identifying the legal term when a lower court differentiates between a higher court's judgement and the case at hand.

Question

When a lower court differentiates between the judgement of a higher court and the case at hand in deciding a matter, the lower court is said to be:
A. Appraising
B. Reviewing
C. Distinguishing
D. Assessing
E. Evaluating

Answer

C. Distinguishing

Explanation:
The correct answer is “Distinguishing” because in legal practice, a lower court may sometimes find differences between a precedent set by a higher court and the current case. This process is known as distinguishing the case, where the court identifies key factual differences that justify a different outcome.

Tags: Court Judgements, Higher Court, Legal Terminology, Lower Court
Level: Level 1

Topic: The Nigerian Legal System
Series: MAY 2014

Uploader: Theophilus