Principal Sources of Law
English law
The received English law was introduced into the colony of Lagos by Ordinance No. 3 of 1863. There are various provisions contained in the enactments creating the courts empowering the courts to administer the received English Law.
The received English law as a source of Nigerian Law consist of the common Law, doctrines of Equity and Status of general application.
Common Law:
The term “common law” is used in several senses but as a principal source of Nigerian Law, it means the law developed by the Old Common Law Courts of England, namely, the King’s Bench, The Court of Common pleas and the Court of Exchequer. Historically, there were several systems of Local Customs in England. But under the guise of enforcing the customs of the people, the Common law judges developed a system of law known as the common Law of England.
Characteristics of Common Law
1) Common Law is not a written law since it is not made by the parliament.
2) Common law is a case law. The common law rules are to be found in judicial decisions of the Judges of the Common Law Courts.
3) Common Law is a rigid law. By virtue of judicial precedent, the judges are compelled to follow the ratio in a previous decision
4) Historically, the Common Law Judges went from country to country listening to ca& and arriving at a decisions by taking into consideration the customs of that which is common to the people and that is why it is described as a law common to the people of England.
5) The common law has always professed to be a complete system, Le., it had an answer to every problem and circumstances brought before it even if the answer was that no cause of action existed in the circumstances.
from EDUPEDIA247https://ift.tt/3j3kBAV
via EDUPEDIA
Comments
Post a Comment