Year: 2012
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The relations between sharia and national law in Nigeria have varied widely from time to time and from place to place within the countrywhich after all was first brought under a single administration only in 1914.In sections 1-4 of this paper the complex history of our subject is sketched, culminating in the programmes of 'sharia implementation' that began in 1999 in twelve of Nigeria's northern states.Sections 5-9 concentrate thematically upon the present day.Many details of the incorporation of sharia in the laws of Nigeria are discussed, including the Sharia Courts and the Sharia Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes now in place in the sharia states, the continuing application of uncodified Islamic personal law and other Islamic civil law throughout the north, the effects of sharia implementation on women and non-Muslims, and the constitutional questions the sharia implementation programmes raise.The conclusion, section 10, discusses the likely fate of Islamic criminal law in the sharia states, and gives some reason to think that sharia implementation has on the whole been a positive development for Nigeria.Table of contents 13.1 The period until 1920.Partial Islamisation, partial Christianisation, and colonisation by the British 13.2The period from 1920 until 1965.The making of a nation; the settlement at independence of the place of Islamic law Constitutional change 1920 to 1960 Change in the administration of Islamic law in the Northern Region The First Republic 13.3The period from 1965 until 1985.Military coups, civil war, and the sharia debate of 1976-1978 Rule by the military, civil war, and the return to civilian rule The sharia debate of 1976-1978 Return to military rule 13.4The period from 1985 until the present.Return to civilian rule at last; sharia implementation in twelve northern states Constitutional developments Sharia and national law, 1985-present 13.5 Constitutional law Sharia in Nigeria's constitution Establishment of inferior Sharia Courts Expansion of Sharia Court of Appeal jurisdiction Enactment of other elements of the sharia implementation programmes The 'state religion' question 13.6 Personal status, family, and inheritance law 13.7 Criminal law 13.8Other legal areas, especially economic law 13.9International treaty obligations and human rights Criminal law Women Non-Muslims 13.10 Conclusion
Authors: Philip Ostien, Albert Dekker
Institution: Leiden University
Language: English
Subfield: General Social Sciences
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W1763872174