1.1 Introduction
Computer and law service, the wonder of computer is not very far from the court proceedings and all other court activities due to it can be used to store some criminal five and retrieve if need be at any given time. The introduction of computer in court proceeding will enhance the speedy and accurate efficiency and effective attendance of each and every clients in the court. In a bid to solve their problems and make life less cumbersome have been evolving from one idea to another. They have tried many ways to actualize their dreams. But unfortunately, there are little or no progress because they did not have the technologies to carry them through for technologically and scientifically they were but full of crude ideas. Technological developments penetrate through the century and enable man to do many things without much problem. Suffice it to say that it is the quest to make life better and less cumbersome that the Almighty technological too computer ever know and seen by many enters.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The history of computer and computing may said to begin with the abacus, a machine that aid humans in calculation more than 5,000 years ago. Down the evolutionary trend, names of people like John Napier, Blaise Pascal, Gottfried Wilhelm, Charles Babbage etc. cannot be left out. It is the difficulties and weak points of manual operations in our works that let to the development of this powerful tool.
The judicial arm of government is the third organ of government besides the legislature and the executive. The major functions of this arm includes setting of case, finding the quality people and also interpreting the constitution of the land as well as administration of justice. Other functions include interpreting laws made by the legislative arm of government, declaration of acts of the legislative as null, void, unconstitutional and of no effect. Moreover, the judiciary is the hope of the ordinary man. They do this by safeguarding the rights and liberties of the citizens. The aggrieved person can go to court to seek redress. It is the job of the court to see to that justice prevails. Also during elections, courts may determine who actually won the election and rigged it as part of its settlement between individuals and the state. The judiciary operations through courts which ascertain facts disputes and adjudicate between disputing parties; the Nigerian judicial system is composed of a hierarchy of courts ranging from the customary court Magistrate Court and High Court to the Supreme Court.
In the democratic set up a minister with a port folio heads the ministry of justice. The minister is also the attorney general of the country. The courts established by the constitution are the only superior courts of record in Nigeria. The supreme is the highest court and all decision from the court is binding to all other courts. In Nigeria, the State court structure of the level of the court of Appeal the court of Appeal entertains appeal from the decisions of the high courts. The Customary court of Appeal and customer court of appeal. Appeals from the decision by the court of appeal go to the Supreme Court.
In terms of administration purpose, the state courts are the most important court in each state. This assertion is strengthened because the constitution has established a high court of each state directly; each state has our option to establish a Customary Court of Appeal or a customary court of appeal. However, for effective performance of the court in its judicial function, there is need for a computer base system to be introduced into court system. The database system will ensure better control and regular effective documentation of case file as well as scheduling of cases. This work therefore gives an analysis of the design and implementation of a Computer Based Court Proceedings Documentation System taking a case study of Edo State high court.
1.3 Statement of Problem
Investigation revealed the problems of the Computer Based Court Proceedings Documentation System which is stated as follows:
- Lack of computer for storage of court proceedings. There is tendency of Edo State Federal high court to loose some files which will bring distrust to them.
- Lack of trained personnel as computer operator and computer analysis.
- Due to the computer is not appropriately applied in court proceeding the people that handle the case can falsity some documents and try to take bribe to free hoodlums.
- Due to the problem mentioned above, the manual of court proceedings is clumsy and insufficient.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement a Computer Based Court Proceedings Documentation System. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:
- Expose all the lapses of the existing manual system of court proceeding in legal aid Council and for the program to be able.
- Retrieve, update and secure document related to court records.
- Store a very large volume of court proceeding and for easy access and retrieval of information needed for a case.
- Increase the efficiency and productivity of organizational services with the increased utilization of internet court proceeding service system.
1.5 Significance of Study
The relevance of the study will be of immense benefit to the industry (Judicial service), society and academia. It will also help to improve the judiciary of the nation to attain maximum utility. It will also help to improve the judiciary of the nation to attain maximum utility. This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Design and Implementation of a Computer Based Court Proceedings Documentation System. This work covers only the legal aspect of the Legal Council Enugu. Hence, the administration files are not considered.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
1.8 Definition of Terms
Computer: An electronic device that input data, process it, and bring it out as an information.
File: It is collection of related data or records.
Program: Series of instruction to the computer.
Software: This is a general term to describe all the programs which may be used to run a computer system, together with the associated documents.
