The colonial influence during its formative years and the subsequent imposition of English laws. Nigerian legal system has acquired a dual structure comprising customary and English law. Islamic law, which has a wider application in the northern state is for all practical purposes treated as customary law.
Nigerian law borrowed heavily from diverse external sources beginning with the influence of Islamic law also with the English law or rules and Australia laws like Criminal Code/ Matrimonial Act, also the Penal Code of Sudan and so on.
It is linked with the above two characteristics is the geo-cultural diversity that is so much part of the Nigerian legal system. It can be said to be caused by the heterogeneity of the country ‘s ethnic grouping (250 ethnic groups).
The tradition of stare decisis, which follows that the decision should be binding authority that is the earlier decision of a court.
The hierarchy of courts is the arrangement of courts in the method through which appeal flows. If the judgment at the lower court is not satisfying, an appeal can be made to the higher court in order to get redress and justice. I would highlight the courts starting from the lowest.
The Legal professionals in Nigeria are trained as barristers and solicitors by the university and at Law school. They are then admitted to the bar as solicitors and an advocate of the supreme court of Nigeria, combining the duty of both callings. In England both professions are separate.
The adversarial system or adversary system is a legal system used in the common law countries where two advocates represent their parties’ case or position before an impartial person or group of people, usually a jury or judge, who attempt to determine the truth and pass judgment accordingly.
The intervention of the military government in Nigeria’s politics has left an indelible mark on its legal system. These regimes assume executive and legislative power but very limit to judicial functions that is limited to adjudication of justice.