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Validity and Enforceability of Customary Law in Nigeria: Towards a Correct Delimitation of the Province of the Courts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 January 2019
Abstract
With a view to showing that courts do not have the power to validate native law and custom, this article highlights the different roles assigned to the assent of the people governed by native law and custom, and to the court called upon to determine its judicial enforceability. It argues that customary law is validated by the assent of the people and not by courts, and that the tests contained in different statutes by which courts are permitted to intervene in the regime of customary law are tests of enforceability and not tests of validity. As a result, it argues that the term “validity test” is misleading when used in relation to the power of courts to determine the enforceability of native law and custom, and should therefore be discarded.
Keywords
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- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2019
Footnotes
*
LLB, LLM, PhD (Brunel University, London), BL. Barrister and solicitor; associate professor, Faculty of Law, University of Benin.
**
LLB, LLM, PhD (University of Benin, Nigeria), BL. Barrister and solicitor; associate professor, head of department (jurisprudence and international law), Faculty of Law, University of Benin.
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