What Is English Law In Nigeria

Generally the english common law forms part of the foundation on which the nigerian legal system is built.

What is english law in nigeria. By the provision of s. The nigerian legal system is based on the english common law and legal tradition because of colonization and the attendant incidence of reception of english law through the process of legal transplant. The nigerian legal system makes effort to bring all these aspects into consideration too. In fact they make up the bulk of our law.

The nigerian legal system is based on the english common law legal tradition by virtue of colonization and the attendant incidence of reception of english law through the process of legal transplant. According to obilade 1979 english law has a tremendous influence on the nigerian legal system and english law forms a substantial part of nigerian law. Nigeria has its own constitution which was established on 29 may 1999. The constitution of nigeria is the supreme law of the country.

32 of the interpretation act the common law of england the doctrines of equity and statutes of general application that were in force on 1st january 1900 will. There are four distinct legal systems in nigeria which include english law common law customary law and sharia law english law in nigeria is derived from the colonial nigeria while. The use of english law in nigeria is backed up by the following authorities. Wheare in another context the former english law of their own force and motion crossed the sea to nigeria they did not need to be brought they came the latter.

This is due to the colonization factor. However english law should according to park a e w be distinguished from those the english rules that apply in nigeria because they have been received into the law of the country originally and adapt a metaphor used by prof. These form the basis of what is termed the customary law in nigeria. Nigeria has close to 400 linguistic groups but the 3 major languages are yoruba igbo and hausa while the official language is english.

According to wikipedia english law is the common law legal system of england and wales comprising mainly criminal law and civil law each branch having its own courts and procedures. Basically english laws are divided into two categories viz.