Abstract
The law of evidence in Nigeria is the life wire of court proceedings and it is the fulcrum that determines the fate of litigants. In fact, it is safe to say that the court is not a court of truth, it is a court of law and the umpire is persuaded on the strength of preponderating evidence. The process and act of presenting evidence is what is referred to as front loading which forms the content of this paper. The courts were be- devilled with issues ranging from the filing of frivolous suits, poorly navigated proceedings at the mercies of litigants, unfathomable delay and the rigours of the filled-to-the-gill cause list. These constituted the bane of litigation that kept case management at abeyance, if not extinct. The frontloading technique emerged through the exercise of constitutional delegations by the heads of courts, churning out rules to expedite justice. The 2004 High Court of Lagos State Civil Procedure Rules blazed the trail. Starkly, the driving force, import and character of front loading endures to mitigate the flagrant abuse of court processes for fair trial purposes. This paper examines the background of front loading, its rationale and purpose, the place of front loading in case management, front loading as an apparatus of justice, the concept of front loading in the Nigerian evidence law, and legal questions as well as the way forward.
Keywords: Litigation, Evidence, Justice, Court Processes.