Insanity and Criminal Responsibility in Nigerian Law

in 200 Level, Case Analysis, Constitutional Cases, Constitutional Law, Criminal Cases, Criminal Law, Educational Articles

In criminal law, "insanity" is a legal term, not a medical one. You can be medically ill but legally sane. Or legally insane due to conditions medicine classifies differently (like sleepwalking). The insanity defense challenges a basic requirement for criminal guilt: the ability to reason and choose. Section 28 of the Criminal Code defines this defense. It's broader and more humane than the English M'Naghten Rules it came from. Everyone Is Presumed Sane Section 27 of the Criminal Code says: "Every person is presumed to be of sound mind...

13 February

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Foundations of Criminal Liability: The Historical Evolution and Dual Legal Codes of Nigeria

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Case Analysis, Class Notes, Criminal Cases, Criminal Law, Criminal Law, Educational Articles

Understanding Nigerian criminal law requires understanding its history. Nigeria's criminal law system is split into two: the Criminal Code governs the Southern States, while the Penal Code governs the Northern States. This division comes from British colonial rule and the different legal systems that existed before colonization.[^1] Before the British Came Before the British arrived, Nigeria wasn't lawless. Different communities had their own ways of handling crime and maintaining order. In the South, criminal law was unwritten.[^2] Villages and families handled disputes based on customs passed down orally. These systems focused on making things right between people, not on locking people up. Punishments...