BY OZAH MICHAEL OZAH

Basic Principles of Nigerian Legal System written by Chris U Anyanwu is an abridged rendition of the basic principles of Nigerian Law that grew from the author’s lecture notes at the Nigerian Law School as a lecturer, to law students who graduated overseas and needed to undergo further training in aspects of Nigerian law to qualify them for the Bar examinations.

The Bar Part One Course, as it is called in the Law School, includes aspects of Nigerian Legal System, Nigerian Constitutional law, Criminal law, Jurisprudence, Evidence and Procedure and is meant to indigenize students who had their legal education outside Nigeria in key areas of the Nigerian legal system with typically Nigerian flavour.

Anyanwu’s style of presentation is out of the ordinary with an in-depth jurisprudential probe, legal theory and philosophy that sometimes questions hitherto held views.

He examines the concept of a legal system, the distinction between international and municipal legal systems and concludes that present indications show that international law is superior to municipal law and imparts validity to the latter. In a style hitherto unknown to studies in Nigerian legal system, the author deliberately explored legal theories on the origin of legal systems by seeking to introduce students to arguments on the nature of Nigerian sovereignty as indexed in colonialism vide a foray into the historical evolution of the Nigerian legal system and the nature and concept of law.

The arguments advanced readily remind any reader who is familiar with the author of his earlier work titled, A Jurisprudence of Sovereignty@. Many philosophical and legal schools of thought are given consideration in the book, such as the natural law, realist, positivist, sociological, functional and historical schools of thoughts.

The nature, manner and extent of reception of the received English laws also received attention in the book, with the author analyzing them in the light of the various schools of philosophical and legal thoughts. Arguing that relevance and suitability ought to have been considerations prerequisite to the implantation of received English laws in Nigeria, the author concluded that our social values and  local customs were not considered in line with sociological, historical, functional and natural law concepts in the adoption or reception of English laws into Nigeria, thus directing our consciousness to the unsatisfactory nature of the Nigerian legal system in the light of the meaning of law and from the perspective of time-tested theorists of law. The common law of England, doctrines of Equity as received from England, the customary law and the repugnancy doctrine, all received pointed attention in the book.

The book also questions the continued relevance of English laws as a source of Nigerian legal system, arguing that the difficulty of ascertaining statutes of general application creates many legal bottlenecks while their continued retention in Nigeria while most of the statutes have been repealed in English where they originated is retrogressive in nature. The author then canvassed   the need for a purpose-driven law reforms.

Besides teaching legal system, the author subtly teaches legal reasoning and argument, what with his logical presentation of facts and mathematical way of canvassing his points. This is not surprising as aspects of his book take the form of legal methods, a legal course that introduces law students generally to legal reasoning, research and argument. The use of the law library and law reports treated in the book are apparently integral parts of legal methods. Major law reports in the country are listed along with their acronyms which in law is referred to as citation.

I was slightly miffed that the book did not list Law Reports of Courts of Nigeria, (LRCN), a foremost Supreme Court law report published in Benin City of which this reviewer was assistant Editor for about three years. Rules of Judicial interpretation, judicial precedents and the hierarchy of courts in Nigeria also form the high points of the book. In fact, Part Two of the book consists principally of the court system. Other main features of the book include civil and criminal proceedings in Nigeria, internal conflicts between different customary law systems, instituting or initiating civil proceedings, criminal procedure and the appellate system. Part 3 of the book is a jurisprudential scrutiny of colonial foundations of State, self determination and independence, a legal sojourn that seeks to deconstruct hitherto held legal views and opinions by advancing challenging and probing questions on jurisprudential thoughts.

Basic Principles of Nigerian Legal System is a finely written book with a legal pitch that not only seeks to educate the rookies in law but also set their minds and consciousness on enquiry through legal reasoning.