Section 37 Property and Conveyancing Law of the Western Region of Nigeria 1959

Section 37 of the Property and Conveyancing Law of the Western Region of Nigeria 1959 is about Trustees for sale where infant entitled to legal estate. It provides as follows:

(1) Where, by reason of an infant being beneficially entitled to a legal estate in
land, such land is deemed to be held under a trust for sale by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 35 or a trust for sale is deemed to have been created by virtue of the provisions of section 36 and there are no trustees for sale of the land, then

(i) The legal estate in the land shall vest in the Public Trustee upon such trusts as
may by virtue of this Law be requisite for giving effect to the rights of the infants;
(ii) The Public Trustee shall not be entitled to act in the trust, or charge any fee or
be liable in any manner unless and until requested in writing to act on behalf of the
infant by his parents or parent or testamentary or other guardian in the order named;

(iii) After the Public Trustee has been so requested to act, and has accepted the trust, he shall become the trustee for sale, and no trustee shall (except by an order of the court) be appointed in his place without his consent;

(iv) If there is no other person able and willing to appoint trustees the parents or
parent or testamentary or other guardian of the infant, if respectively able and willing
to act, shall (in the order named) have power by deed to appoint trustees for sale in
place of the Public Trustee in like manner as if the Public Trustee had refused to act
in the trust, and to vest the land held upon trust for sale in them on the trusts
aforesaid, and he provisions of the Trustee Law, relating to the appointment of new
trustees, and the vesting of trust property shall apply as if the persons aforesaid (in
the order named) had been nominated under the trust for sale for the purpose of
appointing new trustees thereof; and in default of any such appointment the infant
by his next friend, may, during the minority, apply to the court for the appointment
of trustees for sale, and the court may make such order as it thinks fit, and if thereby
trustees for sale are appointed, the land held upon trust for sale shall vest in such
trustees as joint tenants upon the trusts aforesaid:

Provided that in favour of a purchaser a statement in the deed of appointment that the father or mother or both are dead or are unable or unwilling to make the
appointment shall be conclusive evidence of the fact stated.

(2) Sub-section (1) of this section does not apply where an infant is beneficially
entitled in possession of land for a legal estate jointly with a person of full age but it
applies where two or more infants are entitled as aforesaid jointly and a trust for sale
arises by virtue of sub-section (2) of section 35 or section 36.

(3) Where a trust for sale is to be created for the benefit of an infant or infants in
accordance with the provisions of section 35 of this Law, the trustees for sale, in
whom the legal estate shall be vested, shall be such persons as may be appointed
trustees by the person who made the conveyance or by the personal representatives of the testator, as the case may be, in whom the legal estate conveyed or devised to an infant or infants, is in the meantime by virtue of this Law, vested.

(4) As soon as practicable after any such conveyance or devise as is mentioned in
section 35 has come into operation, the person or persons having the power under
the provisions of subsection (3) of this section to appoint trustees for sale shall make the necessary appointment, and if there are no such person or persons able and willing to make the necessary appointments, then the court may, on the application of the testamentary or other guardian of the infant or infants for whose benefit the trust for sale is to be created, appoint fit persons to be trustees for sale, and the court may make such order as it thinks fit, and if thereby trustees for sale are appointed, the land to be held upon trust for sale shall vest in such trustees as joint tenants upon such trusts as may by virtue of this Law be requisite for giving effect to the rights of the infant or infants.