LEGAL ADMISSIBILITY OF COMPUTER -GENERATED EVIDENCE IN NIGERIA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract

The advancement in the information and telecommunication technology (ICT) sector has impacted human life in ways 
unimaginable. ICT has advanced to such an extent that man practically cannot do anything without making use of the ICT
opportunities and the legal profession is not left behind. One of the major impacts of ICT in the legal profession is the issue of 
evidence generated electronically. While paper-based evidence used to be the only admissible form of documentary evidence in  Nigerian courts, ICThas made it possible for evidence to be stored  in a computer system and other electronic gadgets hence the  development of what is now known as computer or electronically generated evidence. It is therefore the aim of this research to  explore the concept of what may be termed computer-generated  evidence and the condition for its admissibility both in Nigeria  and in the United Kingdom. This paper identifies the similarities  and differences in the forms of admissibility of computergenerated evidence in both jurisdictions. Specifically, this research examines the provision of the Civil Evidence Act of 1968,  the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984 (both of the United  Kingdom) and the Nigerian Evidence Act 2011 and found that  their provisions on the admissibility of computer-generated evidence are substantially the same with just little differences on  minor issues like the classification of computer generated evidence into documentary or real evidence, whether oral  evidence may be called as substitute to the certificate of compliance required to prove the content of computer generated 
evidence etc.