Some will say complex customs, however, according to Per Belgore, JSC, the Bini native laws and custom relating to hereditary chief and . Among the Hausa, inheritance or succession is normally determined by the customary rules the deceased person lived by during his lifetime. Discriminatory Property Inheritance Under Customary Law in Nigeria: NGOs to the Rescue Reginald Akujobi Onuoha1 1.0 INTRODUCTION The patterns of inheritance and succession,2 particularly under intestate estate under customary law in Nigeria, have almost as many variations as there are ethnic groups in the country, and many of the variations are . SUCCESSION AND INHERITANCE LAW IN NIGERIA. (Pt. The consequence of this "legal pluralism" is the complex interplay between Common Law, Statutes and Customary law, which in some cases had resulted in The court upheld the Yoruba custom that a wife cannot inherit her husband's property and where there are no children alive at his death, the property will devolve on the members of the husband's family either paternal or maternal. Book The Law as Practised by the Ancient Yoruba Description/Summary: This book is about the law as practised by the ancient Yoruba. The discriminatory aspects of property inheritance under customary law in Nigeria manifests in different forms and scope ranging from primogeniture rules, right of spouses, rights of adopted children and rights of illegitimate child; although it is generally agreed rule under customary law of intestate succession and inheritance that succession . CUSTOMARY INHERITANCE LAW Under customary law rules of inheritance, the oldest son inherits the control of the family property, and makes the decisions about the property. It is the submission of counsel for the defendant, Chief Afe Babalola, S.A.N., relying on the decisions in Olowu v. Olowu (1985) 3 N.W.L.R. Inheritance and succession under native law and custom is determined primarily by the customary rules of the place of origin of the deceased person and . Rules of customary law allow for inequality among people to continue, Geographical background. Under Bini customary law of inheritance and succession the "Igiogbe" that is the house where a Benin man lived and died has gained prominence and notoriety. The customary law of male primogeniture prescribed that only male children can inherit property on the demise of the deceased. Key word: Legitimacy, legitimation, succession, Nigerian Constitution rights of inheritance. When a Yoruba man who dies intestate, dispute often arises as to whether his widow can inherit his property. However, with respect to inheritance, the appropriate customary law is the customary law of the deceased. INTESTATE SUCCESSION UNDER CUSTOMARY LAW INTESTATE SUCCESSION UNDER BINICUSTOMARY LAW (cont) •This was clearly laid down in Arase v Arase (1981) 5 SC 33 as follows: •The eldest son of the deceased inherits the deceased's property only after he has Under customary tenure, women rarely inherit and mostly obtain use rights through their husbands. about THE LAW OF . examination of law in traditional Yoruba society/philosophy. mother, sister. Indigenous customary law developed rules of inheritance for intestacy through the traditional canon of descent, as adapted over the years to changes in the society and the rule of natural justice as applied by the courts. Tanzania's inheritance laws are in urgent need of reform. Yoruba or Igbo customary law, even where the deceased married the surviving partner under the Act. There are many customs in Nigeria but the prominent groups are the Yoruba customary law, the Igbo customary law, the Edo customary law; the Islamic customary law. This is known as "Okpala" or "Diokpa" [34]. access, use or own such resources through inheritance, purchase, free gift or government allocation.14 In Nigeria, land property is regulated by statutory law, customary laws of many ethnic groups, Islamic law, etc. The Yoruba family. It will also examine the reasons why these . Customary law and intellectual property system: the issues What is customary law? 20 Before the Nigerian Supreme Court decision in Adeniyi Oluwu and Ors v. Olabowale Oluwu and Ors 21 it was a generally accepted principle of law in Nigeria that a person carries his customary law with him. 2.0. Author: Peter Cutt Lloyd Publisher: ISBN: Size: 19.61 MB Format: PDF Category : Customary law Languages : en Pages : 11 View: 6507 Get Book. ( Adeseye v Taiwi [1957] 1 FSC ). Filed Under: LAW PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS Tagged With: A CONTEMPORARY OVERVIEW OF THE RIGHT TO SUCCESSION UNDER NIGERIA CUSTOMARY LAW., CONTEMPORARY, CONTEMPORARY OVERVIEW, contemporary overview of the right, customary law, igbo customary law of inheritance pdf, intestacy law in nigeria, intestate succession in nigeria pdf, intestate . Whereas, it is said that in Yoruba native law and customs, wives have no right of inheritance in their deceased husband's estate. Therefore, it The plaintiff further appealed to the Supreme Court, which unanimously held that although the deceased was a man of Yoruba extraction he spend most of his life in Benin City and naturalized as a Bini man on that basis the Supreme Court held that the personal law governing the distribution of his estate as at his death was Bini customary law and . Inheritance right under Yoruba customary law which is applicable to the Awori, grants equality and equity in distribution of an intestate estate of a deceased person between the children, both male and female alike, to the exclusion of the widow. Formerly, under the Yoruba customary law, the elder brother of the deceased inherits the entire estate to the exclusion the wife and his children. In the event of the death of a man, under the Yoruba customary law of inheritance, children exclusively inherit his real property. The absence of the widow's right to inherit the deceased property is evident in the case of Aileru & ors v. Under customary law among the Yoruba, widows are considered part of the estate of their deceased husband and, therefore, have no inheritance rights themselves (WACOL n.d.a, 15; Bamgbose July 2002, 12). The resultant effect of this state of affairs therefore is the absence of a uniformity of rules of succession under . Animashaun: 'The applicable customary law when a deceased dies intestate in Yoruba land, even if the deceased died outside his ancestral community, is the customary law of the deceased. It also evaluated the similarities and differences of . "Consequently, the Igbo customary law, which disentitles a female child from partaking in the sharing of her deceased father's estate is breach of Section 42(1) and (2) of the Constitution, a . posted on February 19, 2019. The people who inhabit the southern states include Ibos, Yorubas, Binis, Ishans, Urhobos, Itsekiris, Ijaws, Isokos, Oginis, Effiks and Ekois. The dilemma of legal pluralism in issues of succession in Yoruba customary law is apparent where a native who marries under customary law dies as a practicing Muslim without a child or will. B.A. Customary law has a great impact on the lives of the majority of Africans in the area of personal law in regard to matters such as marriage, inheritance, and traditional authority.3 In its application, customary law is often discriminatory in such areas as bride price, ZAMBIA L.J. It is thus sui generis. daughter. Customary and Islamic law marriages are potentially polygamous (11). 13)372 and Eyesan v. In Olowu vs. Olowu, where a Yoruba man, who spent his entire life in Benin, married Bini women, acquired property and adopted Bini If the deceased were a Muslim during his lifetime, the rules of succession most likely to govern the distribution of his estate would be as prescribed by Islamic Law, Shari'ah. the right of 'the woman' to inherit family property has remained largely ambivalent and controversial. (See Adisa v. Ladokun (1973)9 & 10 S.C. 55). South-western Nigeria is home to about 20-25 million Yoruba (figures projected from the Nigeria Fertility Survey 1984), who inhabit an area that stretches about 120 miles along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, east from the Benin border, to about 200 miles inland into the savannah belt of West Africa. DIVORCE LAWS IN NIGERIA. 4 CUSTOMARY INHERITANCE LAW Under customary law rules of inheritance, the oldest son inherits the control of the family property, and makes the decisions about the property. Family Property Among The Yoruba PDF The Law Relating To Family Property Among The Yorubas by Peter Cutt Lloyd, Family Property Among The Yoruba Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Writers such as Prof Chanock and others argue that: Although there is the view that colonialists 'invented' customary law as a way to govern natives while under the auspices of paying tribute to their culture and Igbo Yoruba Bini Esan Urhobo Islamic law and Hausa inheritance rights of women under the Wills Act of 1832 the relevant Wills Law of selected states. Bini customary law of inheritance and succession. Even within the Yoruba monolithic lingua-franca, there are . The wife does not inherit the family property, although she may use it. The law of succession and inheritance reflects Nigeria's plural legal system. This study will deal primarily with inheritance; its history, the customary laws practices of the major ethnic groups of Nigeria which are: Igbo, Yoruba, Bini, Esan, Urhobo, Islamic law and Hausa inheritance rights of women under the Wills Act of 1832 & the relevant Wills Law of selected states. CUSTOMARY LAW RULE OF PRIMOGENITURE AND The way a wife can inherit from her late husband is when a property given to her can be proved to be a gift. The system of customary inheritance in Nigeria varies from one ethnic group to another. Inheritance is therefore governed by the principle of primogeniture in the sense that the eldest son of the deceased succeeds to his estate [33]. 1 . The second factor was the rampant practice in southern Nigeria with regards to fraudulent sales of land. In the Yoruba land Spouses are not meant to inherit each other's property. Even within the Yoruba monolithic lingua-franca, there are . Daughters have equal rights to inherit from their father's property. Download Family Property Among The Yoruba books, 30 More While polygamy is prohibited in civil marriages, it is authorised under customary and Islamic law and is relatively common. On the other hand, Dr. Coker in his family [20] property among the Yorubas 37 states categorically that in any application of the term "land includes buildings thereon. The term -woman* generically includes wife- widow of a deceased. matters of inheritance.13 In many communities in Nigeria, where there is no surviving son of a deceased man, the closest male relative of the deceased inherits his property, rather than his daughters. Furthermore one will ask whether the rule of intestate succession under Yoruba customary law has been finally settled. Under customary law, parties do not have equal rights in matters of marriage, dissolution and right of property because marriage is a union between two families (22). 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