Anglo –Nigerian law: Common law of England or Common judicial assumption?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

It is somewhat curious that inspite of nearly a century of the reception of "Common Law" into Nigeria the contents of the imported common law should still remain a matter of controversy.

Views have been expressed to the effect that the "Common Law" consists of:

(a)        The rules of common law and the doctrines of equity in force in England from time to time.¹

(b)        The rules of common law and the doctrines of equity in force in England on January 1, 1900.²

(c)        Nothing more than what one may conveniently refer to as the judicial technique evolved by English judges (that is, judicial tradition) as opposed to specific rules of English common law.³

A clarification of these contradictory views is necessary, not only for the study of the sources of Nigerian law, but also for the practical necessity of determining (as it is being argued), the binding force of current decisions of English courts in Nigerian law.