AN OUTLINE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE IN NIGERIA

CONTENTS:

1.0       Introduction

2.0       Objectives

• Main Content
• What is Civil Procedure?
• Subsidiary Legislations
• The Civil Procedure of the Courts

4.0       Conclusion

5.0       Summary

6.0       Tutor Marked Assignment

7.0       References/Further Reading

INTRODUCTION:

The sources of the law of civil procedure consist of Statutes and subsidiary legislation. The subsidiary legislation forms a large body of the law than the Statutes. Statutes establishing the courts usually contain a few rules of procedure and provide that in general where there are no provisions on any particular matter in the rules of court made under those Statues, appropriate English rules of court are not inconsistent with the Statutes. Thus, generally, Rules of the Supreme Court of England apply in all jurisdictions in Nigeria with respect to matters not dealt with by local enactments, containing rules of court. Therefore, civil law can be used as a generic term to denote the rules of law that govern any given political community. Generally, civil  law denotes the whole body of law which is concerned with civil as distinct from criminal proceedings.

OBJECTIVES

In this unit, you should be able to know the following:-

• What civil procedure is
• The difference between the civil procedure and criminal procedure
• Sources of civil procedure rules
• Subsidiary legislations.

MAIN CONTENT

What is Civil Procedure?

Civil Procedure is the method, or procedure of commencing, conducting and concluding civil matters, trials, or claims in court. Civil proceedings are taken in order to assist individuals to recover property or enforce obligations in their favour. Jackson was of the view that in law the term civil is sometimes used to mean the whole law of some particular state in contrast to international law.

In consideration of the above, civil offence in a given State means an offence against the law of that State which is of course, not military law, criminal law, religious and ecclesiastical law. In fact, the rules, which regulate the conduct of civil proceedings in the law courts or judicial settlement of civil offences, are collectively called civil procedure.

Sources of Civil Procedure rules:

The source or origin of the rules, regulating the civil practice and procedure of courts in Nigeria are:-

• The condition, it establishes the judiciary and provides for procedure rules to be made for the court.
• Statutes, establishing the relevant courts
• Subsidiary legislation, which, provide civil procedure, rules for the relevant court. The subsidiary legislation is usually made by the relevant delegate of power pursuant to the provisions of the Statute establishing the courts
• Rules of practice and procedure of English Courts, which apply where there is no statutory provision

Thus, the courts specifically established by the Constitution and for which it provides some procedure rules and also gave powers for procedure rules to be made are: Supreme Court of Nigeria, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court, High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Teritory, Abua, High Court of the State, Sharia Court of Appeal of a State, and Customary Court of Appeal of a State.

Subsidiary Legislation:

Statutes establishing the various courts usually provide some rules of procedure for the specific courts in question. Alternatively, the procedure rules are made under a separate Statute.

Thus, civil procedure rules are usually made for courts by the relevant delegated authority in the form of subsidiary legislation, pursuant to the Constitution and or the Statute, which specifically established the court. Examples of provisions enabling delegated persons to make civil procedure rules for court in the form of delegated legislations are – Sections 46 (3), 236, 248, 254, 259, 264, 269, 274, 279 and 284 of the 1999 Constitution.

The Civil Procedure of the Courts:

Practice and procedure rules and forms, regulate and characterize the work of the courts, whether it be civil proceedings or criminal proceedings. Thus, civil and criminal proceedings in the courts must be commenced and prosecuted according to the procedure laid down by the relevant court in its procedure rule or Criminal Procedure Act and equivalent laws in the States, as the case may be.

However, as noted before, the civil procedure rules of courts may be gathered from the following sources: The Constitution, Statutes establishing the relevant court, subsidiary legislations, providing civil rules for the relevant court, and rules of practice and procedure of English Courts which apply in an appropriate court, where there is a gap in the rules, provided that such rule is not in conflict with the statute establishing the court and so forth.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

What civil procedure and in what ways is it distinct from Criminal procedure?

CONCLUSION

In this Unit, we have defined what civil procedure is all about. We also discussed subsidiary legislations and the civil procedure of the courts. Thus, we can rightly conclude that a civil matter or claim may have a criminal issue or element, in which case, the civil aspect will be decided according to the relevant weight of evidence required by the evidence required by the Evidence Act, which is proof beyond reasonable doubt.

SUMMARY

The rules of procedure of courts are no more than guides, to help everyone and the courts to do and achieve justice in the shortest and most convenient way. Procedure rules or procedural law do not affect, displace nor detract from substantive law, but they are the procedure, instruments, or tools by which the courts are to achieve the provisions and object of substantive law, which is justice for the parties in a suit and everyone.

TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

• Explain Civil Procedure and what are the sources of Civil Procedure Rules?
• Outline the civil procedure of the courts and subsidiary legislations

  REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Akintunde Olusegun Obilade, (1990) – The Nigerian Legal System,  Owerri, Spectrum Law Publishing.

Ese Malemi, (1999) – Outline of Nigerian Legal System, Lagos, Grace Publishers Inc.

Nnanyelugo Okoro and Aloysius – Michaels Okolie, (2004) – Law, Politics and Mass Media In Nigeria, Nsukka, Prize Publishers.

Sanni, A. O., (1999) – Introduction to Nigerian Legal Method, Ile-Ife, Kuntel Publishing House.

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria