Top 5 Major Sources of The Nigerian Law / Constitution
The law is a system of rules that are made and enforced
through government institutions to regulate human behavior.
Every right thinking individual must have thought about the source of law,and also ask some questions such as who made these laws? What are the major sources? and why did we adopt some of these laws?
--
---
---
Nigeria is a country of over 200 million people,and in other for it's citizens to be law abiding,there must be laws that have to be kept in place,but the major question now is what are the major sources of Nigerian law?
In this post we shall quickly examine the top 5 major sources of the Nigerian law and where they originated from,because obviously these laws didn't fall from the sky.
Some of the Nigerian law was mostly adopted from the laws of other countries,also the culture of other ethnic groups in Nigeria as the country has a lot of ethnic groups,the laws made by the legislative arm of the government and equity,listed below are the major sources of the Nigerian law : -
1. Adopted Law
In this post we shall quickly examine the top 5 major sources of the Nigerian law and where they originated from,because obviously these laws didn't fall from the sky.
Top 5 Major Sources of The Nigerian Law / Constitution
Some of the Nigerian law was mostly adopted from the laws of other countries,also the culture of other ethnic groups in Nigeria as the country has a lot of ethnic groups,the laws made by the legislative arm of the government and equity,listed below are the major sources of the Nigerian law : -
1. Adopted Law
This is the law that was adopted from the colonial masters shortly before Nigeria gained independence in 1960.
The law was first implemented in Badagry, Lagos State and is also known as the The Received English law. The Received English law consists of the common law's doctrines of equity and statutes of general application which were applicable in Britain on 1st January 1900.
These laws became applicable in Britain and Nigeria.
2. Customary Laws
Nigerian ethnic groups had it's own types of laws before being colonized by the British.
--
---
---
Nigeria is home to over 250 ethnic groups,and somehow some of these cultural laws have found a way into the Nigerian constitution.
Sometimes this Customary law are applicable in civil circumstances,however due to modernization,most of the Customary Criminal law has been abolished by statutes like the Penal Code and Criminal Code,while some are still applicable.
3. Legislature
Another major source of law is via the laws made by the legislative arm of the government.
The legislature is one of the arm of government that works with the executive and judicial branches.
The legislature is saddled with the responsibility for the creation of laws in Nigeria in the national assembly.
This consists of the members of House of Representative and the Senates, the legislative arm of the Federal Government has the right to make,amend and uphold constitutions and laws.
--
---
The laws made by the legislature are referred to as statutes.---
4. Equity
This source of Law is developed as a result of the need to remedy some of the defects discovered in the common Law.
It is basically the application of the principles of natural justice or conscience to the settlement of controversies.
See Also: Labor Laws In Nigeria > Top 30 Facts
5. Case Laws
These are laws that are developed by the courts and become binding according to the principle of stare decisis,which means "to stand by decided matters" basically what this means is that law will be enacted based on similar cases that where once resolved.
Comments
Post a Comment