26 April

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History of Company Law in Nigeria: From Trade by Barter to CAMA 2020

in 300 Level, Class Notes, Company Law, Educational Articles, Exam Preparation, Study Resources

Long before a single ordinance was drafted, before any company was registered, before the term "corporate personality" entered the Nigerian legal vocabulary, commerce existed. The Yoruba marketplace, the trans-Saharan trade routes of the Hausa-Fulani north, the Igbo long-distance trading networks: these were sophisticated systems of exchange, credit, and commercial trust operating entirely outside any written legal framework. Trade was by barter. Obligation was enforced by custom, community, and reputation. There was no concept of a company. There was no need for one. That world was not inferior. It was simply different. And it was this world that colonial contact transformed, first...

19 April

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Death as a Cause of Action in Law: What Families of Accident Victims Can Claim

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Class Notes, Educational Articles, Exam Preparation, Law of Torts, Study Resources

In June 2012, Dana Airlines Flight 992 crashed into a densely populated residential area at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, killing all 153 persons on board and 10 people on the ground. Among the dead were fathers, mothers, breadwinners, and children. Their families were left not only with grief but with the immediate, crushing financial reality of lost income and lost support. The law's response to this tragedy illustrates one of the most important and underappreciated areas of Nigerian tort law: death as a cause of action. The question is not just whether someone is criminally responsible for the deaths. The question that tort...

19 April

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The Tort of Nuisance in Nigerian Law: Generator Noise, Oil Spills, and Your Legal Rights

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Class Notes, Educational Articles, Exam Preparation, Law of Torts, Study Resources

Picture this. You have just moved into a quiet residential estate in Lekki. Three weeks later, your neighbour sets up a commercial generator that runs from 6am to 11pm, six days a week. The fumes drift through your windows. Your children cannot sleep. Your concentration at work is shattered. You complain, informally. Nothing changes. Or consider a different scenario. An oil company has been operating a pipeline through your community in Bayelsa for two decades. Over time, there have been spills. The farmland your family depends on is contaminated. Fish have disappeared from the creeks. The water is no longer safe....

19 April

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Defences to Negligence in Tort Law: Volenti, Contributory Negligence and More

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Class Notes, Educational Articles, Exam Preparation, Law of Torts, Study Resources

Imagine you are knocked down by a danfo bus on Ikorodu Road, Lagos. You have a broken leg, medical bills, and two weeks of lost income. You instruct a lawyer, who confirms that the bus driver was clearly negligent. You file your claim, confident in the outcome. Then the defendant's lawyer stands up and says: "Yes, our client was negligent. But the plaintiff was crossing at the wrong point on the road, wearing dark clothing at night, without looking left or right." Suddenly, your apparently straightforward case has a complication. This is what defences to negligence do. They either completely defeat a...

19 April

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Negligence in Torts: Elements, Duty of Care, and Nigerian Case Law Explained

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Class Notes, Educational Articles, Exam Preparation, Law of Torts, Study Resources

Think about the last time you were stuck behind a danfo driver swerving dangerously on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Or think about the reports you have seen of patients dying after surgery at a public hospital due to what their families describe as careless treatment. Or the stories of children electrocuted by exposed NEPA cables left dangling by the roadside. All of these situations have one thing in common: they may give rise to an action in the tort of negligence. Negligence is the single most important tort in Nigerian law today. It provides a legal remedy for persons who suffer harm because...

01 April

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Islamic Marriage in Nigeria: Formation, Requirements, and Legal Framework

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Class Notes, Educational Articles, Family Law

Islamic marriage known as Nikah, is one of the three forms of marriage recognised under Nigerian law, alongside statutory marriage and customary law marriage. See our Marriage and Divorce Law in Nigeria guide for the comparative overview of all three systems. Islamic marriage is particularly significant in the northern states of Nigeria where Sharia courts exercise jurisdiction over personal law matters for Muslims. However, its legal principles apply to Muslims across the federation regardless of state of residence. Islamic marriage is grounded in religious obligation. As prescribed by Allah, it is the lawful union of a man and a woman based on mutual...

30 March

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Dissolution of Statutory Marriage in Nigeria: Grounds, Case Law, and Procedure

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Class Notes, Educational Articles, Family Law

Dissolution of Statutory Marriage in Nigeria: Grounds, Case Law, and Procedure

If you need a foundational introduction to the types of marriage in Nigeria and the general divorce process, start with our Marriage and Divorce Law in Nigeria guide. This article builds on that foundation and goes deeper — into the case law, statutory construction, and doctrinal arguments you are expected to engage with at the 300L level or 200L in some schools. What is a Matrimonial Cause? A matrimonial cause is a proceeding for a decree of dissolution of marriage, nullity of marriage, judicial separation, or restitution of conjugal rights. An appeal against a decision in a matrimonial cause is itself still...

13 February

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Intoxication as a Defence in Nigerian Criminal Law

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Class Notes, Criminal Law, Criminal Law, Educational Articles

Alcohol and crime often go together. Many violent crimes happen when people are drunk. The law faces a problem: how do we balance punishing dangerous behavior with the requirement of mens rea (guilty mind)? If someone is too drunk to know what they're doing, do they have criminal intent? Nigerian law, under Section 29 of the Criminal Code (and Section 52 of the Penal Code), generally says yes—unless narrow exceptions apply. The Basic Rule Section 29(1) is harsh: intoxication is not a defence to any criminal charge.[^1] If you voluntarily get drunk, you accept the consequences. But Section 29(2) allows two exceptions: involuntary...

13 February

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Insanity and Criminal Responsibility in Nigerian Law

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Criminal Law, Educational Articles

Insanity and Criminal Responsibility in Nigerian Law

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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The Defence of Accident in Nigerian Criminal Law

Posted by Kolawole Adebowale

in 200 Level, Class Notes, Criminal Law, Criminal Law, Educational Articles, Landmark Judgments

The Defence of Accident in Nigerian Criminal Law

Sometimes harm happens without anyone meaning it. A hunter shoots at an animal but hits another hunter. A friendly push leads to a fatal fall. Criminal law must separate deliberate criminals from unlucky people. Section 24 of the Criminal Code provides the defence of accident. This article explains Section 24, the difference between "unwilled acts" and "accidental events," and key cases like Timbu Kolian and Iromantu. Section 24: Two Types of Protection Section 24 is crucial for understanding criminal responsibility. It says: "Subject to the express provisions of this code relating to negligent acts and omissions, a person is not criminally responsible for an...

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