1. Determining the effect of chieftaincy declaration on native law and custom: towards a consistent judicial approach in Nigeria.
- Author
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Olorunfemi, John Funsho and Oloworaran, Benson Ayodele
- Subjects
TARIFF laws ,LEGISLATIVE reform ,LEGISLATIVE power - Abstract
The appointment of most recognized chiefs is regulated by codified native law and custom usually called chieftaincy declaration or community constitution largely to obviate the necessity for oral proof and ensure certainty of the law. The court has maintained that it has no power to promulgate chieftaincy declaration for any community but departed from this principle in two cases when it held that it has competence to determine whether a chieftaincy declaration is in accordance with the prevailing custom and where it is not, declare it null and void. This paper concedes that the court can declare a chieftaincy declaration a nullity where the body that made it lacks competence; it cannot nullify a chieftaincy declaration on account of the correctness of the content. Whereas a finding of the court that a chieftaincy declaration does not represent the prevailing custom may necessitate a legislative reform, the nullification of a chieftaincy declaration on account of that finding amounts to judicial usurpation of legislative power. The proper construction of a chieftaincy declaration and its application to the facts will settle a dispute without the court necessarily nullifying the declaration. This paper therefore recommends a judicial rethink whenever the opportunity presents itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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