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“Opting Out”: An Experiment with Jurisdiction in Northern Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

S. S. Richardson
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Extract

With the commencement of the Native Courts (Amendment) Law, 1961, the Government of the Northern Region of Nigeria abolished “opting out”, an experiment with jurisdiction which must surely be unique within the history of modern legal systems and therefore worthy of recording before the facts are obscured and lest any other African state, faced with similar difficulties, is tempted to adopt this expedient as a temporary palliative to meet a similar situation. It is all the more desirable to publish the facts since the strong case for abolition presented by the Northern Regional Government is in danger of being lost by default. On 14th October, 1961, the Daily Service in Nigeria published a bitter attack on the Native Courts (Amendment) Law, 1961, under the title “The light goes out in the North”.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Spring 1964 , pp. 20 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1964

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References

1 Principal, Institute of Administration, Zaria.

2 Daily Service, Lagos, 14th October, 1961.

3 “Islamic law in Africa: problems of today and tomorrow”, in Changing law in developing countries, London, 1961.Google Scholar

page 21 note 1 Report of the Commission appointed to enquire into the fears of minorities and the means of allaying them. 1958, H.M.S.O. Cmnd. 505.

page 21 note 2 Statement by the Government of the Northern Region of Nigeria on the Reorganization of the Legal and Judicial Systems of the Northern Region. 1958, Govt. Printer, Kaduna.

page 23 note 1 House of Assembly Debates (Second Legislature, Second Session) 13th December, 1958. Government Printer, Kaduna.

page 25 note 1 Provincial Annual Reports, 1959, Government Printer, Kaduna.

page 26 note 1 House of Assembly Debates (Second Legislature, Fourth Session), 3rd May, 1960. Government Printer, Kaduna.

page 27 note 1 House of Chiefs Debates (Third Legislature, First Session), 13th October, 1961. Government Printer, Kaduna.