NIGERIAN

LEGAL SYSTEM

Introduction
As in societies, all over the world
including Nigeria, there are rules and
regulations and a system of
enforcement put in place by which life
and human activities are governed.
Nigeria came to independence with a
well-established legal system that
included a court system and a thriving
legal profession in the British tradition.

Characteristics of the Nigerian Legal

System
English Law Content: one of the characteristics
of the Nigerian Legal system is the tremendous
influence of English law upon it growth.
Complexity: Nigeria consists of a fed capital and
36 states. Each State has a legal system. There
is also a fed legal system along with various
customary laws of communities.
Training and Practice of Lawyers in Nigeria: a
legal practitioner in Nigeria practices as both a
barrister and a solicitor whereas in England he
either practices as a solicitor or a barrister.

Classification and Hierarchy of

Courts in Nigeria
Knowledge of courts system in Nigeria
as well as its hierarchy is essential in
appreciating the composition and
jurisdiction of our courts.
The judicial powers of the Federation
and the States are vested in the court.
S. 6 CFRN, 1999.
Superior and Inferior Courts
Federal Courts
State Courts

Hierarchy of courts in Nigeria

THE SUPREME COURT
highest court in Nigeria
A superior court of record having appellate
jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases.
Has no original jurisdiction except in cases which
involve federal govt and a state or between states.
When hearing a matter, 5 Justices sit at the same
time. Except when exercising its original jurisdiction
or considering questions of any decision as to the
interpretation of the Constitution. Or decisions
regarding fundamental rights under the
Constitution. Then seven Justices sit.

COURT OF APPEAL
A superior court of record.
Is mainly an appellate court.
Has exclusive jurisdiction to hear appeals from the Fed
High Court, High Court of Fed Cap Territory, High Court of
a State, Sharia Court of Appeal of the Fed Cap Territory,
Sharia Court of Appeal of a State, Customary Court of
Appeal of the Fed Cap Territory, Customary Court of
Appeal of a State, and from decision of a court martial or
Tribunals as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.
It also has original jurisdiction to hear matters concerning
the office of the President and Vice-president.
Three Justices sit to hear a matter.

 FEDERAL HIGH COURT

ELECTION TRIBUNALS
Tribunals are established on an
ad-hoc basis.
The decision of the tribunal is
subject to the ratification of the
National Assembly, the House of
Assembly of a State or other
recognised authority

Divisions of Nigerian Legal System

CRIMINAL LAW
Halsburys law of England defines a crime as an
unlawful act or default which is an offence against
the public and renders the person guilty of the act
liable to legal punishment.
S. 2 of the Criminal Code Act defines a crime as an
act or omission which renders the person doing the
act or making the omission liable to punishment.
Crime and offences are used interchangeably

 The procedure of conducting criminal

proceedings or trials is called CRIMINAL
PROCEDURE.
A party who institutes criminal proceeding is
called THE PROSECUTOR, while the party
against whom criminal proceeding is instituted
is called THE ACCUSED.
In criminal proceeding, the accused is charge
with an offence, to which he may plead guilty
or not guilty.
If he is guilty, he is sentenced. If not he is
either discharged or discharged and acquitted.

 if after a trial an accused is convicted and sentenced,

he cannot after serving the sentence be charged
again with an offence based on the same facts. S.
33(9). In either of these cases he can plead
AUTROFOIS ACQUIT or AUTROFOIS CONVICT.
The standard of proof required in a criminal case is
that beyond reasonable doubt and where there is
any doubt, it will be resolved in favour of the accused.
The Nigerian legal system is Accusatorial or Adversary
as opposed to the inquisitorial system whereby parties
have responsibilities of finding and presenting
evidence. The judge does not investigate the facts
An accused person is presumed to be innocent until
proved guilty S. 33(5) CFRN, 1999

Ingredients of a Crime

There are 3 basic ingredient of a

crime:
The act or omission constituting
the offence must be stated in a
written law
There must be punishment
stipulated by the law for the act
or omission
Such an act or omission is done

Classification of Crime

Crimes or offences are classified in terms of

seriousness into 3 broad head:
Felonies, Misdemeanours, and Simple
Offence. S.3 CC
Felony is any offence which is punishable
without proof of previous conviction with
death or with imprisonment for 3 years or
more.
Misdemeanour is any offence which is
punishable by imprisonment for not less
than 6months but not up to 3 years.
All offences other than felonies and

Civil Law
Laws governing conducts, acts or omissions which are
not punishable by the state.
It is concerned with the enforcement of rights of
parties and compensation for injuries.
The procedure of conducting civil proceedings is
called CIVIL PROCEDURE.
A person who institutes an action in a civil proceeding
is called the PLAINTIFF OR CLAIMANT and the person
against whom the action is instituted is called the
DEFENDANT.
When the defendant is sued for particular civil wrong,
he may plead LIABLE OR NOT LIABLE. If the suit
succeeds, judgment is entered for the plaintiff, and
where otherwise the case is dismissed.

 The burden of proof which is the

requirement of the law to prove a case in
ones favour in a suit lies on the person
who would fail if no evidence at all were
given on either side S.136 of the
Evidence Act.
Standard of proof required in a civil case is
that ON THE PREPONDERANCE OF
EVIDENCE -S. 137 (2), E.A
Once a court has made a final decision on
a matter and no appeal is brought, the
matter becomes Res Judicata. No party to

Classification of Civil Wrongs

BREACH OF CONTRACT
A contract is a binding agreement
between parties and enforceable in a
court of law.
A breach of contract means nonfulfillment of ones part of an
agreement.
it entitles the aggrieved party to
compensation in the form of damages.

 BREACH OF TRUST
An equitable relationship which arises when a
person holds property for the benefit of another.
The property is called trust property; the
person who gives out the property is called the
settlor, the person who holds the property is
called the trustee; and the person for whose
benefit the trust property is held is called the
beneficiary
A breach of trust arises if the property is dealt
with by the trustee improperly i.e if the trustee
uses the property for his own purpose.

 TORT
A civil wrong which occurs independently of
contract.
Liability arises from breach of a duty
primarily fixed by law which is towards
others generally as opposed to any specific
person.
An act can constitute both a breach of
contract and a tort.
Liability leads to the award of damages to
the party wronged.

Sources of Nigerian Law

Nigeria legislation
Customary law
Case law and judicial precedents
Law Reporting
English common law and
Doctrines of Equity.

Nigerian Legislation

Consists of statutes and subsidiary legislation.

Statutes are laws enacted by the legislature
while Subsidiary legislations are laws enacted
in the exercise of powers given by a statute.
Nigeria legislation or laws comprises of:
The constitution
Ordinances
Acts
Laws
Decrees
Edicts

Customary Law
A body of rules regulating the rights and duties of a
given community. It is made of the accepted customs
and practices among members of a community.
Divided into Islamic or Muslim law and NonIslamic/non-Muslim.
Islamic or Muslim Law is religious law based on the
Muslim faith and applicable to members of that faith.
Islamic law is written.
Non-Islamic or Ethnic Law is the indigenous law of the
different ethnic groups in Nigeria.
It applies to members of the different ethnic or
cultural groups in Nigeria.
It is unwritten.

Characteristics or Features of
Customary Law
Main features are Acceptability and
Flexibility.
Acceptability: members of a community
must accept it as obligatory and binding.
In Owonyin V. Omotosho, it was referred to
as a mirror of accepted usage for the
members of any given community.
Customary law must always be shown to be
recognised and accepted by the native
community whose conduct it is meant to
regulate.

 Flexibility: It is based on the

customs and values of members of
the community. As the customs and
values change, they lead to a
change in the applicable customary
law. Among various communities in
Nigeria today the practices
regulating marriage and inheritance,
land holding and disposition etc
have changed over time.

ESTABLISHING CUSTOMARY
LAW

Customary law can be established before the

courts, either by; Proof (i.e Evidence), or
Judicial notice
Proof of Customary Law (Evidence): Primarily,
the application of any customary law has to
be proved by evidence. It is only when a
custom is so common-place (notorious) that
the courts can take judicial notice of them.
Customary law has to be proved by calling
witnesses who have a personal knowledge of
the particular custom this is in accordance
with the provisions of the Evidence Act

 Taking Judicial Notice of Customary Law:

Certain facts are so obvious that they need not be
proved by evidence anymore before the courts.
The courts take judicial notice of facts which are so
common-place (notorious) because they have been
applied by the courts in the past in that locality.
Also a custom may be judicially noticed if it has been
acted upon by a court of superior or co-ordinate
jurisdiction in the same area to an extent which
justifies the court asked to apply it in assuming that
persons concerned in that area look upon the same
as binding in relation to circumstances similar to
those under consideration S.14 (2) Evidence Act.

VALIDITY OF CUSTOMARY
LAW

For customary law to be enforceable by

the courts it must pass certain validity
tests:
It must not be repugnant to natural
justice, equity and good conscience,
otherwise called the Repugnancy test.
It must not be incompatible either
directly or by necessary implication with
any law for the time being in force,
otherwise called the Incompatible test.
It must not be contrary to Public Policy.

CASE LAW AND JUDICIAL

PRECEDENT

Case law is the body of laws resulting

from the judgments of the courts.
A judgment of a court remains valid and
binding until it is set aside or reversed,
and to this extent it remains the law.
Judgments of higher courts guide the
lower in arriving at their own decisions.
In this regard judgments of higher
courts are judicial precedents which the
lower courts must follow. This is the
principle of STARE DECISIS.

 The doctrine of Stare Decisis is a well

settled principle of judicial policy which
must be strictly adhered to by all lower
courts.
The requirement of the law under this
principle is that the lower court is under
an obligation to apply the RATIO
DECIDENDI of a decided case by a higher
court to the facts of the case before it
unless the facts are distinguishable from
that decided by the higher court

LAW REPORTING
Law reporting is the act of putting
down decisions of courts in records,
generally called law reports. Through
this process of documentation of
courts decisions in Law reports, the
courts, legal practitioners and others
can very readily find case laws and
be in a good position to apply or
observe the principles of stare
decisis, res judicata etc.

 In Nigeria today there are quite some

readily available law reports and
these include;
Nigerian weekly law reports
(N.W.L.R).
All Nigerian law reports (All N.L.R).
Nigerian monthly law report
(N.M.L.R).
Supreme court of Nigeria judgments
(S.C.N.J).

RATIO DECIDENDI
Ratio decidendi is the reason for a
judicial judgment or decision. The
ratio decidendi of a case is the
principal upon which the case is
decided. It is this principle of law as
pronounced upon in the decision of a
case by a higher court that is binding
on the lower courts in all appropriate
cases.

OBITER DICTUM
An obiter dictum is a statement
made as an aside in a judgment.
Any other pronouncement on law
made in the course of judgment
which doesnt form part of a ratio
decidendi is an obiter dictum.
An obiter dictum of a higher
court only serve as a persuasive
argument and is not binding on a

RES JUDICIATA
Res judicata is a final decision of
competent court.
It is a fundamental principle of a legal
system that there must be an end to
litigation.
Parties have no right to question an issue
that has been tried and a decision of
competent court obtained, without
appealing against it, to start litigating over
the same issue again.

ENGLISH COMMON LAW AND

DOCTRINES OF EQUITY
English common law and doctrines of equity
are also part of Nigerian law.
English common law is the basic law of
England which was developed by the judges of
the common law courts, court of Kings Bench,
the court of Common Pleas and court of
Exchequers.
A distinctive characteristic of the Common Law
is that its principles are to be discovered in
previous cases and not in any comprehensive
code.
Common law is Case law.

 Equity, like common law is case law.

It was developed by Lord Chancellor in the
court of chancery essentially to mitigate the
rigidity and hardship of the common law.
Where there was conflict between common law
and equity the rule of equity prevailed.
Generally the courts administer the rules of
both together as though they formed one
system without having to consider whether any
particular rule derives from either Equity or the
common law. Also, in our courts, Law and
Equity are administered concurrently