OUTLINE OF CIVILAND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

COURSE TITLE: NIGERIA LEGAL SYSTEM II

COURSE CODE: PIL204
GROUP MEMBERS

• Abiola Rachael(ACU20241084)

• Adesoye Oluwaseyi (23L01061)

• Afolabi Oyinola Chidinma(23L01009)

• Ajayi Folasade Wuraola(ACU20241163)

• Akinsola Ayokunnu Akintunde(ACU20240505)

• Akinlami Samuel'Kiibaati(23L01015)

• Amadi Evans(23L01020)

• Asomugha Valerie(23S07006)

• Braimoh Temitope Adedayomi(23L01023)

• Dosekun Folakunmi Mercy(23L01025)

• Eriera Iruoghene Happiness(23L01027)

• Ogunyemi Ayodeji Andrew(23L01042)

• Onadeko Oyinkansola Boluwatife(23L01051)

• Owolabi Oluwatunmise Eniola(23L01052)

• Saidi Ayomide Esther(23L01058).

Abstract

This presentation provides a structured overview of civil and criminal procedure in the Nigerian
legal system. It examines the legal frame works that govern both types of proceedings, such as
the High Court Civil Procedure Rules for civil matters and the Administration of Criminal
Justice Act (ACJA),2015 for criminal matters.

The workout lines the key stages in each process, including commencement, trial, judgment,
enforcement, and appeal. It also highlights important statutory and judicial authorities,
emphasizing the distinctions in procedure and standard of proof. By understanding both systems,
the presentation under scores the need for procedural fairness, timely justice, and improved legal
practice in Nigeria.

Introduction

Nigeria Legal system as a whole is built on a frame work that distinguishes between civil and
criminal procedure. Proper understanding of this procedures is essential for navigating the justice
system effectively and also essential for law students, law lecturers, lawyers and anyone who
wants to gain mastery of the law. While both criminal and civil procedures are governed by rules
of court and seek to resolve disputes, they differ in purpose, parties involved, burden of proof,
and the out comes they seek.

By grasping the fundamentals of civil and criminal procedure, individuals can better appreciate
the complexities of the Nigeria legal system and the importance off air and just processes in
resolving disputes and punishing wrong doing.

In understanding Civil procedure, there’s a need for us to understand what civil proceedings are.
They are proceedings for the enforcement of the civil rights and private duties of individuals and
other legal persons including a corporation.1There are mainly two parties in a civil proceeding,
the claim ant and the Defendant.

CivilProcedure

Civil procedures refer to the body of rules through which civil proceedings are governed. The
goal of civil procedure is to provider emedies such as damages, injunctions, or specific
performance.

SourcesofCivilProcedure

Civil Litigation in Nigeria is governed by several laws. They include:

a) The Constitution: The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria vests in the
Judicial Heads of the superior courts of record the power to make Rules of Practice and
 Procedure for the irrespective courts. 2The Constitutionals provides for the civil
jurisdiction of each superior court of record.
b) Laws that established each courts: Example of these laws are The Supreme Court Act,
Federal High Court Act, etc.
c) Rules of Courts: Every court has its own rules3 and has stated above, the Constitution
vests these power in the hands of the Judicial heads of the Courts.
d) Sheriffs and Civil Process Act/Law: This is the law that governs the process and
procedure for the enforcement of the out come of a civil trial.
e) Other laws such as the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Matrimonial causes
Act/Rules, etc.

Courts vested with civil jurisdiction

As a general rule, every court in Nigeria has civil jurisdiction. 4The only exceptions are the
magistrate Courts in the FCT and Northern States which have criminal jurisdiction. Section
6(5) vests the following courts with jurisdiction in civil matters:

a) Supreme Court
b) Court of Appeal
c) Federal High Court
d) National Industrial Court
e) High Court of FCT
f) High Court of States, etc.

The Constitutional so empowers the National Assembly and the Houses of Assembly the power
to create her courts.5

ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED BEFORE FILING A CIVILACTION

Before a civil action is commenced, there are a number of issues which the lawyer and the
parties to the dispute must consider. They are:

1) Cause of Action: A cause of action was defined in Military administration of Benue

Statev. Captain Clement Abayilo6 as “the aggregate facts designating and constituting the
subject matter; it is the factual circumstances giving rise to or upon which an enforceable
claim is anchored.”
It is important to know the cause if action to be able to determine the court that has
jurisdiction.
2) Locus Standi: After knowing the cause of action, it is important to ensure that the claim
ant has the right of action. Locus Standi means the legal capacity of a person to sue
another or institute an action in a court of law. He must be able to show that he has
sufficient connection to the cause of action
 3) Statutes of limitation: The law provides for the periods within an action may be brought
before a court, and failure to bring an action within this period would render the action
incompetent (add case of Green v. Green).
The time begins the moment the wrong doing is committed and this was reinforced in
Egbev. Adefarasin7.
4) Jurisdiction: This is the authority of a court to sit on a matter and the authority to exercise
judicial power in respect of a dispute that is litigated before it. Any proceeding carried on
without jurisdiction is null and void.
5) Proper venue to institute the action: This has to do with the state and judicial division of
the proceeding. Generally, the law is that in an action for the enforcement of any contract,
the proper venue to institute the action is the court of competent jurisdiction in the state
and judicial division here the contract is to be performed or where the defendant resides
or carries on business.
However, this is not fatal to the case provided that the court in which the action is filed
has territorial jurisdiction over the matter.
6) Parties: These are the persons involved in the civil matter. The person who institute the
action is the Claimant/Plaintiff, while the party whom it was instituted against is called
the Defendant. However, they might assume different names depending on the nature of
the case.
7) Pre-action notice
8) Possibility of ADR settlement.

COMMENCEMENT OF A CIVILACTION

The mode of commencement of a civil proceeding depends generally on:

a) The court (either Magistrate or High Court)

b) The subject matter of the action

In a Magistrate Court, there are two modes of commencing a legal action, namely:

a) Ordinary Summons supported with a claim or

b) Originating Application.

The Ordinary Summons supported with a claim is the most common mode used in the
commencement of a civil action in the magistrate Court. A statement of claim is prepared by the
Claim ant stating the facts of the case and the reliefs sought (e.g damages, recovery of properties,
etc). This is filed to the Registry of the Magistrate Court.

The court then proceeds to issue an ordinary summons, which is the formal notice to the
defendant that a case has been brought against him. This Ordinary Summons is served to the
defendant. After this, the response of the defend and to determine if the case would go to court or
there would be settlement or negotiate.

The Originating Application is used when there are no disputes of fact (e.g interpretation of
statutes, contracts or documents).The applicant files a motion or originating application
depending on the rules of the Court. This must be supported by an affidavit and a written
address. The Court serves the respondent, and he may respond with a counter-affidavit and
written address.

The court heard the legal arguments based on ghr documents filed and then judgment is delivered
at the end of the arguments.

COMMENCEMENT OF CIVILACTION IN HIGH COURT

There are 4 modes for commencing a civil action in the High Court, namely:

a) Writ of Summons: It is the most common mode of commencing a civil action at the High
Court. It is used where a person is claiming relief for civil wrongs, damages for personal
injury or from a breach of contract. 8It is used to invite the person (s) named in it to
appear in court to answer allegations or defend the claims against him.
One important requirement of the writ of summons is that it is the most appropriate
commencement process in matters where facts are likely to be contentious.
Service of writ: The service is to be done by the sheriff or other officers of the court, and
it must be served to the defend ant himself unless the defendant has stated that his solicit
or may receive the service for him. Where it is not possible to serve the defendant
personally, an order may be obtained from the court to serve either someone who can
bring it to the notice of the defendant or publicly.
Once served, the defendant is to enter appearance within the stipulated time stated. If the
defendant fails to enter appearance, the plaintiff may get judgement by default action.
b) Originating Summons: An originating summon is a kind of originating process used to
commence a civil proceeding where from the nature of the claim, the facts are established
and are not likely to be disputed by either party. It is mostly used for cases where there is
no substantial dispute of fact and the matter can be decided on affidavit evidence and
legal argument. Examples include: Interpretation of a will and Construction of contracts
or trust documents.
c) Originating Motions: This is used only where the rules of court or any written law
prescribes it as an originating process. It is used for prerogative writs or orders such as
prohibition, certiorari, mandamus and habeas corpus.
It is also used to commence most applications for the enforcement of the fundamental
rights. Anyone who alleges that his fundamental rights have been violated may come
through an application.
 d) Petitions: This is an originating process used when expressly provided for. It is a kind of
special prayers framed in a special form supported with facts and often adopted in
elections and matrimonial causes. It is prescribed for under Companies and Allied
Matters Act to commence winding up proceeding.9

TRIAL IN A CIVIL MATTER

Trial is a judicial procedure for the examination and testing of the truth of testimonies and
evidence before the court in order to confirm whether here has been enough proof based on the
required statutory standard of proof to establish the entitlement or non entitlement of the
claimant to reliefs claimed in an action.
In Trial the attendance of the parties involved is very important and mandatory. After that the
evidence produced is then presented in an orderly manner in the courtesy, and then the final
address is given by both parties before judgement is given by the judge.
Every valid judgement must comply with the following principles:
a) It must be in writing.
b) It must be delivered in the open court.
c) It must be delivered within time, that is 90 days after conclusion of evidence.
d) It must be based on proper evaluation of evidence before the court.
e) It must be confined to the issues raised and reliefs sought by the parties.
ENFORCEMENT OF JUDGEMENT
This is a judicial procedure whereby a successful party in litigation reaps the benefits of his
efforts by executing the judgement given in his favour. Officers responsible for the execution of
judgement are Sheriff, Deputy Sheriff and Bailiffs.
APPEAL
In Oredoyin v. Arowolo 10appeal was defined as an invitation to a higher Court to review he
decision of a lower court to find out whether on the proper consideration of the facts placed
before it and the applicable law that court arrived at a correct decision.
Upon the judgement given, a party whom the judgement was given may disagree and want a
review of this decision; this is what we call appeal.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
Outline of Criminal Procedure Criminal procedure refers to the process by which a criminal case
is prosecuted or the body of rules and regulations regulating the administration of criminal
justice in Nigeria. Until recently, the major statutes governing the criminal procedure in Nigeria
were the Criminal Procedure Code (applicable to the north) and the Criminal Procedure Act
(applicable in the south).
These statutes were adopted by various states as criminal procedure laws. In 2015, the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act came into force repealing the CPC and CPA. Since
then, this has been the main legislation governing criminal proceedings in Nigeria.
Section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution provides that every person who is charged with a
criminal offense shall be presumed to be innocent until he’s proved guilty.
Commence mentor the criminal procedure
It commences in a court exercising criminal jurisdiction by persons and authorities vested to do
so by both the Constitution and other enactment. They are:
A) The Attorney General of the Federation.
He’s the Chief law officer of the State. This office is established under Sections 171(1) and
211(1) of the 1999 Constitution. By these provisions, he has the power to institute, take over
and discontinue criminal proceedings before a court in Nigeria, except the Court Martial.
The Supreme Court in The Statev. Ilori 11held that the position of the Attorney-General, under
common law, as the chief law officer of the State, either as a legal adviser or specially in all court
proceedings to which the State is a party, has been long recognized by the courts.
b) The Nigerian Police Force: According to Section 4 of the Police Act; the Police is
responsible for the prevention and detection of crime, the protection of life and property,
the apprehension of offenders, the enforcement of all laws and regulations with which
they are directly charged, etc. The power to institute a criminal proceeding is derived
from Section23 of the Police Act12
c) Private persons may also institute criminal proceedings against a personal leged to have
committed an offense before the court13
Sources of Criminal Procedure
a) Adjectival / Procedural Law
i) Criminal Procedure Act5
ii) Criminal Procedure Code
iii) The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015
iv) Administration of Criminal Justice Laws
b) Substantive Law
i) The Constitution
ii) Criminal Code
iii) Penal code
iv) Other laws like the Evidence Act, EFCC Act, etc.
COURTS VESTED WITH CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
The Courts that have jurisdiction as to criminal matters include Courts of General Criminal
jurisdiction and Courts of Special Criminal Jurisdiction.
A).Courts of General Criminal Jurisdiction: This courts have jurisdiction on most kind of
persons and crimes generally except there is a law expressly preventing them from exercising
jurisdiction. They are further classified into courts of original jurisdiction and courts of appellate
criminal jurisdiction.
Courts of original jurisdiction such as Customary and Appeal Courts, Magistrates Courts and
High Courts, have authority to try offences as courts of first instance, courts of appellate criminal
jurisdiction receive appeals from decisions of courts of original criminal jurisdiction.
The Courts that have general criminal jurisdiction under Nigerian Law include: Customary
Courts (South), Area Courts (North), Magistrate Court, High Courts of States and FCT, Court of
Appeal, Supreme Court.
B Courts of special jurisdiction
These courts can only exercise criminal jurisdiction over specific class of offenders or a
particular type of offense. Examples of such courts include: Federal High Court, Court Martial,
Juvenile Courts, etc
Procedure for the Administration of Criminal Justice.
In examining criminal procedure in Nigeria, we shall consider the criminal procedure of two
courts namely:
a) The Magistrate Court
b) The High Court of a State
Before an action is instituted in court for a criminal matter the following must be met.
Arrest: This can be made by a police officer, a member of any law enforcement agency, a group
of people 14or a private individual. The suspect is handed over or taken to the Police Station and a
case, report of compliant is made.
It’s important to note that a person may be arrested at any of the following stages:
i) While attempting to commit a crime.
ii) While committing the crime.
iii) After committing the crime
Complaint: Whether or not an arrest has been made, the victim of a crime, and other witnesses
may report or make a complaint to the police, who may then make an arrest, with or without
having made an investigation. The suspect on his own part is not obliged to make a statement,
but if he does, whatever he says may be used against him in trial. Thus caution and explanation is
a requirement of law under the right to fair hearing.
Bail: The right to bail is a constitutional right under the right to personal liberty as guaranteed in
Section35(1) and Freedom of movement under Section38. It is also connected to the
presumption of innocence until proven guilty. This is a procedure where a person arrested or
detained in connection to a crime is released upon security being taken for his appearance on a
day and place as may be determined by the person effecting there lease.
Bail may arise in three stages;
a) Pending further investigation
b) Pending the determination of the case against him
c) Pending appeal
Section 158 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 provides that: “When a
person who is suspected to have committed an offence or is accused of an offence is arrested or
detained, or appears or is brought before a court, he shall, subject to the provisions of this Part,
been titled to bail"
However, the case might be different for Capital offences as provided in Section161 of the
ACJA that: “A suspect arrested, detained or charged with an offence punishable with death shall
only be admitted to bail by a judge of the High Court, under exceptional circumstances.”
In subsection2 of this section, “exceptional circumstances” is defined as:
i) Ill health and must be confirmed by a qualified medical practitioner.
ii) Extraordinary delay in investigation, arraignment and prosecution.
iii) Any other circumstances that the judge may consider as exceptional.
Arraignment and Plea: Arraignment is formally bringing the accused person to court to read
him the indictment or charged sheet and to ask him whether he pleads guilty or not.
An accused person may plead as follows:
Autrefoisacquit7: This is a plea rest he has been tried for the same offence before and has been
acquitted. This plea is an applications of the rule against double jeopardy.
Autrefo is convict: A plea that one has been tried and convicted of the same offence.
Plea of guilty to a lesser offence, also known as plea bargaining He may plead guilty to the
offence charged He may plead not guilty.
An accused person that is mentally ill use the principle “Unfit to plead". Such a person would be
taken for psychiatric examination and treatment.
Prosecution: The counsel for the prosecution opens a criminal proceeding by calling evidence
for the prosecution. This includes examinations, cross examinations and re-examination of the
accused person and other witnesses
Anocasesubmission8: When the prosecution is done with their examination and all, the defense
counsel may submit that the prosecution had not produced sufficient evidence or made out a
prima facie case against the accused and that he has no case to answer and therefore the case
shouldn’t proceed further.
Defence: If the no case submission is rejected, the case or trial continues and the case for the
defence opens. The accused person or his legal practitioner, calls evidence for the defence,
which usually include the accused person and a number of witnesses to establish his innocence
or mitigating circumstances that may exist in his favour.
Closing Addresses: The counsel for both sides makes closing speeches by addressing the court
from their filed written addresses. The prosecution counsel is always the first to address and he
points out to the weaknesses of the other party Bs why it should fail and at the same time,
pointing out the strength of his own case and why judgement should be given in favour of his
party. The counsel of the defense does the same too.
Judgement, Sentence, Discharge and Acquittal: After the closing address, the judge may
decide to fix the judgment for an adjourned date or give it on that day. On the adjourned date,
the judge delivers his judgement. In his judgment, he sums up the evidence of both sides. He
states his reasons for believing and accepting the case of either side and his reason for rejecting
the other side.
Discharge is when the accused person is not found guilty, and on merit, the judge will dismiss
information or charges and accordingly discharge and acquit the accused person. Sentence is the
judgement formally pronounced by the court or judge upon the defendant after his conviction in
a criminal proceeding, imposing the punishment to be inflicted. It is the final delivery of the
decision of the Court.
Types of Sentences Court may impose
1) Imprisonment
2) Fine
3) Death
4) Sentence
5) Caning
6) Deportation
7) Community
8) Service Probation order, etc.
COMMENCEMENT OF PROCEEDINGS IN MAGISTRATE COURT
1) Preferring a Charge: Under this procedure, a police officer prepares and signs a charge
for the purpose of bringing any person arrested without a warrant to the magistrate 15. The
charge usually contains the heading of the Magistrate Court, the charge number, the
parties, the name and occupation of the accused person, the offence alleged, date and time
of commission of the offence and soon.
2) Filing First Information Report: This procedure is applicable only in States of Northern
Nigeria, whenever an allegation of commission of crime is reported to a police officer, he
shall put the allegation into writing. A Magistrate after hearing evidence from the
prosecution shall prepare a charge against the accused person. If the person admits the
allegation of the crime, the Magistrate may convict and sentence the accused person
without framing a charge. If he denies the allegation, the Magistrate will frame a charge
and the case will go in to trial.
3) Laying a Complaint: This is applicable in both Northern and Southern parts of the
country. In the event that a police officer refuses to file an FIR, the complainant may
approach the Magistrate Court directly by laying a complaint. Also whenever a police
officer approaches the Magistrate Court through a report that is not in the prescribed form
of the FIR, it could be treated as a complaint 16. The complaint is usually made by the
complainant or his legal representative, it canals be made orally or in writing.
COMMENCEMENT OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN HIGH COURTS
The criminal procedures in a High Court include:
1.Filing Information: Criminal Proceedings may be instituted at the High Court by one of the
following information;
(a) Information of the Attorney General of the State,17
(b) Information signed by any other public officer
(c) Information signed by private persons.
(d) Information filed in court after the accused has been summarily committed for perjury by a
judge or magistrate. Information may be filed against any person who has committed an
indictable offence and non indictable offence. Information must be filed with the consent of a
judge, information may also be quashed if the proof of evidence in support of the information do
not disclose the alleged offences.
2.Preferring a Charge: This procedure is applicable in Northern States, a charge may be
preferred against an accused person with the consent of a High Court Judge. The charges are
prepared and signed by law officers. The proceedings are instituted by the Attorney General of
the Federation or by law officers acting under his authority.
3. Laying a Complaint: This process is the same as the laying of complaint under magistrate
court, except that in High Courts, a complaint can be laid without taking an oath. This procedure
is applicable in both Northern and Southern States of Nigeria.