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The Work of a Nigerian Magistrate's Court
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
Extract
Judicial statistics are frequently non-existent, or at best patchy, in developing countries. This note contains some very basic information—of the sort that in some places one might well find in published statistics—about the cases dealt with by a magistrate's court in Zaria, in one of the northern states of Nigeria during a six-month period in the early 1970s.
The purpose of the study was to try to find the answers to some very elementary questions about the functioning of this part of the legal system such as: what sorts of cases were courts of this type trying? how long did the cases take? what were the outcomes? how many accused persons had lawyers and did this make any difference to the outcome? The period in question was chosen as the most recent six-month period; there is, so far as I am aware, no reason to suppose it to have been in any way exceptional, although naturally enough the nature of the cases may well have been affected by police activity, for example a more than usually extensive vehicle document check or a crack-down on Indian hemp (marijuana). As we shall see, the Chief Justice had been urging courts to try to keep down the prison population, which may have had an impact on the granting of bail and the proportion of custodial sentences imposed.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1985
References
1 Some information is available about the higher courts, from the law reports, for example, and for the Supreme Court at about the same time see, Kasunmu, (ed.) The Supreme Court of Nigeria 1956–70 (1977)Google Scholar esp. Kasunmu, , “The Supreme Court of Nigeria: An Examination of its Composition and Function”, pp. 1–52Google Scholar. For some information on sentencing in some magistrates courts in the South, see Adeyemi, A. A., “Scientific Approach to Sentencing” in Elias, T. O. (ed.) The Nigerian Magistrate and the Offender (1972) p. 49Google Scholar. This small book contains a number of interesting insights into, for example, the attitude of the police and magistrates to each other.
2 A road-block to check documents was a regular, almost a monthly, event.
3 Cap. 89 Laws of Northern Nigeria 1963. For a brief history see Richardson, Notes on the Penal Code, “Introduction”.
4 Cap. 118 Laws of Northern Nigeria.
5 Decree No. 119 of 1966.
6 Cap. 97 Laws of Northern Nigeria.
7 For an account see Obilade, , The Nigerian Legal System (1979), chap. 10Google Scholar.
8 Customary and Islamic Criminal Law ceased to apply in 1960; for the North see Penal Code Law section 3(2).
9 See various Area Courts Laws.
10 Cap. 30 Laws of Northern Nigeria; Appendix A, Cols. 6 and 7. (Commonly abbreviated to CPC).
11 Then 1 Naira = £.60 sterling approx.
12 See e.g. Area Courts (Jurisdiction in Miscellaneous Proceedings) Order Kwara State N8 of 1968—which, like similar Orders in other states, confers jurisdiction over criminal cases arising out of the Road Traffic Law, with certain exceptions, including causing death by dangerous driving, which could therefore be tried only in magistrate's courts.
13 The principal way in which the court takes cognizance of an offence in the case of a police prosecution.
14 E.g. section 147 CPC—transfer by court.
15 CPC section 390, but see 1979 Constitution section 33(b)(c) and Uzodima v. Commissioner of Police [1982] 3 Nigeria Constitutional L.R. 325Google Scholar.
16 This procedure has now been generally abolished, see e.g. Criminal Procedure Code Law (Amendment) Edict No. 13 of 1972 (Kano).
17 In the southern states they have civil jurisdiction also—see Obilade, , op. cit. p. 194Google Scholar.
18 Cap. 30 Laws of Northern Nigeria 1963. On this see Richardson, and Williams, , The Criminal Procedure Code of Northern Nigeria (1963)Google Scholar.
19 On this see Aguda, , The Criminal Law and Procedure of the Southern States of Nigeria (3rd ed., 1982)Google Scholar.
20 See Chap. XVI CPC on summary trials.
21 Section 164 CPC.
22 Section 159 CPC.
23 Road Traffic Law section 23.
24 Ibid. section 39.
25 Indian Hemp Decree section 5; for cultivation the sentence was death or 25 years—section 2(1).
26 Pharmacy Law section 35.
27 Penal Code sections 366 and 364.
28 Liquor Law Cap. 65 Laws of Northern Nigeria section 7.
29 Section 340 CPC.
30 Section 341 CPC.
31 For some years after the former Northern Region split into 6 states (which took effect in 1968) there was a common Chief Justice.
32 Section 345 CPC.
33 Section 340 (3) CPC.
34 Section 32 (4).
35 One of my own former students, a magistrate, told me “We don't usually convict in these cases.” Later the 10 years minimum sentence for possession was reduced to 6 months minimum or a fine of 
200 or both—see Indian Hemp (Amendment) Decree No. 13 of 1972.
36 Dr. Hassan Lawal suggests that the caution is widely used by magistrates because it is believed to be effective as a public warning, because the magistrate takes time to spell out the unwisdom of the accused's behaviour, and because by leaving the accused's record clean it can operate as an incentive to keep it that way.
37 See section 339 and Appendix C, CPC offences include assault and causing hurt, trespass, adultery, enticement and defamation. Some slightly more serious offences may be compounded with leave of the court—Part II of Appendix C.
38 See section 77 CPC.
39 Permitted for offender under 19: section 10 Indian Hemp Decree 1966.
40 The powers of customary courts in criminal cases in other parts of the country arc much less (indeed such courts have at times been abolished)—See Obilade, op. cit. There are far more lawyers, even now, in the southern states. Magistrates tend to be more experienced whereas in the North newly qualified lawyers often become magistrates.
41 It would seem from Adeyemi, , op. cit., esp. p. 52Google Scholar that there are more property cases in some magistrate's courts.
42 An expression used of a magistrate by Adeyemi, , op. cit. p. 67Google Scholar.
43 I am indebted to the staff of the Zaria court who helped me and to Mr. S. Aga, then an LL.B. student, for valuable assistance in collecting the basic material from the record books of the court. More recently, while revising this paper I have derived much benefit from the suggestions of Professor Yash Ghai and Dr. Hassan Lawal.