THE HIERARCHY OF COURTS IN NIGERIA

 CONTENTS

1.0       Introduction

2.0       Objective

• Main Content
• Supreme Court
• Court of Appeal
• Federal High Court
• State High Court
• Sharia and Customary Court of Appeal
• Magistrate Court
• The Election Tribunals
• The Hierarchical diagram of the Nigerian Courts

4.0       Conclusion

5.0       Summary

6.0       Tutor Marked Assignment

7.0       Reference/Further Readings

  INTRODUCTION

Our focus here is on the hierarchy of Nigeria Courts with particular reference to their composition and jurisdiction. The 1973 Constitution and chapter vii of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, respectively, deal with the Nigerian Judicature. This chapter contains sections 230 to 296 all of which have to do with the explanation and description of the court system in Nigeria in respect of establishment, appointments, Jurisdictions, composition/constitution, powers, practice, procedures, enforcement and interpretation of legal/constitutional provisions. Therefore, under Sections 230 to 285 of the Constitution, the following courts were established:

1. The Supreme Court
2. The Court of Appeal
3. The Federal High Court
4. The State High Court
5. The Sharia Court of Appeal of the FCT Abuja
6. The Customary Court of Appeal
7. The Election Tribunals

The Constitution goes further to state that any other court may be established by virtue of an Act of National Assembly or the law of a State House of Assembly shall also be recognized by the Constitution. In this regards, the various tribunals and specialized courts like National Industrial Court, Industrial Arbitration Panel, Juvenile Court, as well as the state courts like the Magistrate and Area Court are constitutionally recognized.

At the end of this unit, you are expected to understand the following:

• The hierarchy of Nigeria courts
• The composition and Jurisdiction of the courts
• The appointment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other Justice of the court.
• Difference between Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal

MAIN CONTENT

Supreme Court:

As the name implies, this is the nation’s highest court. In respect of appeals, the Supreme Court is the final port of call. The Constitution of 1979 and 1999 respectively, stipulate that the court shall consist of such number of justices not exceeding 15 and 21 respectively at every point in time and should be headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

Ordinarily, there are not less than five (5) numbers who sit during an appeal (i.e a Normal Court). However, the Supreme Court can sit as a Full court, where there are seven (7) member sitting on the bench in the following situations.

• Where the Supreme Court is exercising its original jurisdiction
• Where the question arising from the appeal before the Supreme Court is on interpretation and application of the constitution
• Where the appeal bothers on the question of fundamental human rights
• Where the Supreme Court is ordinarily an appellate Court that determines appeals on a final note from the court of appeal the constitution counters original jurisdiction on the court so as hear civil case of first instance where:
  1. There is a dispute between a state and the Federation, or
  2. There is a dispute between a state and another state

It must however be noted that original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court has been suspended by virtue of Decree No. 1 of 1984.

A person can be appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice of Nigeria if:

1. He has qualified to be a legal practitioner in Nigeria and
2. He has been so qualified for at least 15 years proceeding the date of appointment

The appointment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria in a civilian regime is made by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council subject to the confirmation of the Senate, while in Military regime it is done by the Military President at his discretion. The appointment of other Justices of the Supreme Court is equally made by the President upon the advice of the Advisory Judicial Committee. A Justice  of the Supreme Court must retire upon attaining the age of 70 and his tenure may otherwise be terminated by the President in the event of a case of corruption or any other inability to discharge the function of his office.

Court of Appeal:

Court of Appeal is essentially a court which jurisdiction is appellate. It hears appeals from the Federal and State High Courts, Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeals as well as the Code of Conduct Tribunal. The Court of Appeal is empowered in certain instances to determine appeals from the Disciplinary Committees of some professional bodies as well as any other court or tribunal in respect of which decision a Statute expressly or impliedly confers appellate jurisdiction on the Court of Appeal.

The court should consist of such number of Justices not less than 49 at a time not less than 3 according to section 237 of 1999 Constitution, of whom must be learned in Islamic Personal Law and not less than 3 learned in Customary Law. The court is headed by one of its justices called President of Court of Appeal. It is properly constituted by 3 justices for the purpose of exercising any jurisdiction conferred upon it by the constitution or any other law. There are 9 divisions of the Court of Appeal – Lagos, Ibadan, Benin, Port-Hacourt, Jos, Kaduna, Enugu, Calabar, Ilorin and FCT Abuja, where it is based.

Qualification for appointment as the President or Judge of the Court of Appeal is based on the appointee having.

• Qualified to practice as a legal practitioner in Nigeria
• For a period not less than 12 years

The same age of 70 for retirement for justice of the Supreme Court and conditions for termination of appointment also apply.

Federal High Court:

This court was formally known as the Federal Revenue Court The 1979 Constitution adopted it and changed its name to Federal High Court. It was further confirmed under section 249 (1) of the 1999 constitution.

The Court consists of a Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and such number of the Federal High Judges as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly. The Court is duly constituted if it comprises at least one judge of that court: (S. 249 (2) (a) (b). and S. 253

The Chief Judge must not be less than 10 years in legal profession.

State High Court:

It was established by the 1979 Constitution. It is presided over by a person called a judge who must be at least 10 years old in legal profession.

State High Court is a Court of unlimited jurisdiction in the sense that it has powers to hear and determine any criminal and civil matter under both the State Law and Federal Laws. The unlimited jurisdiction of the State High court does no however, extend to the matters exclusively reserved for the Federal High Court by the Decree 107, as listed above.

The High Court may also exercise supervisory jurisdiction over the other inferior courts like magistrate court, district court etc. high Court also exercises appellate jurisdiction in the sense that it serves as an appeal court for the cases coming from the other lower courts. The retirement age for the Judges of both the Federal and State High Court is 65 years.

Sharia and Customary Court of Appeal:

The Constitution provides for the existence and composition of each of these courts. The Sharia Court of Appeal presently exists in the Northern States. It hears and determines appeals from the Sharia Courts in respect of matters arising from operation of Islamic personal law. The Sharia Court of Appeal is properly constituted by 3 Khadis, and is headed by a Grand Khadi A Khadi is a person who is versed in Islamic Personal Law without less than 10 years experience. The Court is to hear and  determine appeals from Customary Courts. Generally appeal lies from both the Sharia and Customary Courts of appeal to the Court of Appeal directly. While Sharia Court of Appeal was established under section 260 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, the Customary Court of Appeal was established under section 265 (1) of the 1999 constitution.

Magistrate Courts:

The Magistrate Courts were established under different Laws applicable in different states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, including Abuja, which make provisions for the creation and jurisdiction of several grades of Magistrate Courts. The following grading is peculiar to all the Northern States and the FCT. Abuja.

(i) The Chief Magistrate

• Magistrate Grade I
• Magistrate Grade II
• Magistrate Grade III

The following grading on the other hand can be found in most of the Southern States.

• The Chief Magistrate
• Senior Magistrate Grade I
• Senior Magistrate Grade II
• Senior Magistrate Grade III
• Magistrate Grade I
• Magistrate Grade II
• Magistrate Grade III

Before a person can be appointed as a Magistrate except a Magistrate Grade III he must have qualified as a legal practitioner in Nigeria for a reasonable period preceding the date of his appointment.

Generally appeal lies from the decision of a Magistrate Court to the High Court.

Election Tribunals:

Tribunals are established on an ad-hoc basis. The law establishing tribunal usually specifies the purpose and jurisdiction of each tribunal. The decision of the tribunal is subject to the ratification of the National Assembly, the House of Assembly of a State or other recognized authority. However, Election Tribunals were established by section

285 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, and known as the National Assembly Election Tribunals.

The tribunals have original jurisdiction, to the exclusion of any court or tribunal, to hear and determine petitions as to whether:

• any person has been validly elected as a member of the National Assembly
• The term of office of any person under the constitution has ceased
• the seat of a member of the Senate or a member of the House of Representative has become vacant, and
• a request or petition brought before the election tribunal has been properly or improperly brought

Also, in each of the Federation, there exit election tribunals known as the Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunals. These tribunals have, to the exclusion of any other court or tribunal, original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether any person has been validly elected to the office of Governor or Deputy as a member of any Legislative house.

 

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

Give an insight about the electoral Act in Nigeria.

  CONCLUSION

A good knowledge of courts system in Nigeria as well as the hierarchy of the Nigerian Courts is therefore, essential in appreciating the composition and jurisdiction of our courts. What is important about our courts system is the degree of the force of law of a decision, case or precedent according to the hierarchy of the court. The judgments of the highest court in Nigeria such as the Supreme Court at Abuja and the Court of Appeal, which has several divisions sitting in various parts of the country, have from the time always commanded the greatest respect.

SUMMARY

The general rule of precedent or order of precedence established long ago in England in the 19^th century and which is consistently observed in the Nigerian legal system is that decisions of the higher courts bind the lower courts, in Nigeria however, it is not the province of judges to make law, but to interpret and apply the law as it is, whether it be English law, Statute law, Customary law etc. Hence, judicial legislation does not obtained in Nigeria. Where there is a gap in the law, it is not courts, but for the legislature to amend and reform the law.

TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

• Define the roles of the Supreme Court
• Differentiate the Supreme Court from an Appeal Court

  REFERENCE/FURTHER READINGS

Hart H. L. A., (1971) - The Concept of Law, London Oxford University Press.

Kiralfy A. K. R, (1960) - The English Legal System, London Sweet and Maxwell.

Nnayelugo Okor and Aloysius – Michaels Okolie, (2001) - Comparative Politics Today (A World View), India, Replika Press (p) Ltd. of the

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 - The Constitution

Federal Republic of Nigeria 1979.