The jurisdiction of a
criminal court is the authority which it has to try a criminal matter. The
limits on this jurisdiction are imposed by law, such as statutes, charters,
laws, Acts, etc.
The jurisdiction of a
criminal court is determined by the offence
committed; offender involved and the punishment
involved. These three matters constitute the substantive jurisdiction of a
criminal court.
Again, criminal jurisdiction
of a criminal court may be territorial
depending geographical location where the ingredients of the offence
manifested. Indeed, the law is firmly settled, that where the initial elements
of an offence occur in one state and other elements of the offence occur in
another state, both states would have jurisdiction to try the offence. This of
course applies to state offences and state courts, because the Federal High Court
has nationwide jurisdiction.
Please Note that jurisdiction in a criminal matter is determined
by the State or Judicial Division or Magisterial District where the ingredients
of the offence occur.
Lastly, criminal courts
are usually classified as courts of “General” or “Special” criminal jurisdiction.
The former is further classified as “Original” or “Appellate”, depending on the
court concerned. The classification is determined by the class of offender and offences
that can be tried in a particular court. Thus, courts of special criminal
jurisdiction are set up to try
particular types of offences or particular classes of offenders; while courts
of General Criminal Jurisdiction, are courts that have jurisdiction over
different classes of offenders and in respect of different types of offences.
For the purpose of criminal litigation, the
Federal High Court is a court of special criminal jurisdiction when it tries a
criminal matter. Also, a Military Court Marshal, Coroners Court and Juvenile
Court are examples of courts of special criminal jurisdiction.
On the other hand, Courts of General Criminal Jurisdiction are
subdivided into two:
i.
Courts of Original
Criminal jurisdiction, and
ii.
Courts of Appellate
Criminal Jurisdiction.
Courts of original criminal jurisdiction are courts you can commence criminal
proceedings at first instance, for example, Customary Courts, Magistrate Courts
and High Courts are courts of original criminal jurisdiction.
Let us now examine the
jurisdiction of various Courts of Original Criminal
jurisdiction in
detail.
a. Customary Courts
All states where the
Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) is applicable have customary courts established by
state laws. However, Northern states are not forbidden from having customary
courts since they could be established by any state that desires it.
In Lagos State, they are classified as Customary Court Grade A and Customary
Court Grade B.
The jurisdiction of customary
courts in Lagos State to try persons
extends to all persons within Lagos state.
On the other hand, the
jurisdiction of customary courts in Lagos State to try offences is limited in to the following offences:
a) Offences against the
provisions of an enactment which expressly confers jurisdiction on the court.
b) Offences against the rules
and bye-laws made by a local government Authority or having effect as if so
made under the provision of any enactment and in force in the area of
jurisdiction of the courts, and
c) Contempt of court
committed in the face of court.
However, certain offences are
expressly excluded from the jurisdiction of the customary courts in Lagos state
and these are:
a)
Homicide
b)
Treason
c)
Sedition
d)
Rape
e)
Procuration
f)
Defilement
of girls
g)
Offences
against the enactments relating to official secrets, and
h)
Capital
offences other than those mentioned in the foregoing sub-paragraphs.
Lastly, the
jurisdiction of customary courts in Lagos State to impose punishment depends on
whether it is Customary Court Grade A or year imprisonment and N200 naira fine; while for Customary Court
Grade B, it is 6 months imprisonment and N100
fine. Customary Court Grade B. For Customary Court Grade A – it is One (1)
Appeal
against the decisions of any of the zero grades of customary courts lies to the
Chief Magistrates’ Court and further to the High Court.
b. Area Courts
Area courts were formerly
known as native courts. They are
established by Warrants under the hand of the Chief Judge of the state
concerned. Area courts are classified into:
(a)
Upper
Area Court
(b)
Area
Court Grade I
(c)
Area
Court Grade II and
(d)
In
some states Area Court Grade III.
The jurisdiction of Area Courts to try persons is as provided in section 15(1) of the Area Court Edict
1967 as follows:
a)
Any
person whose both parents were members of any tribe or tribes indigenous to
some part of Africa and descendants of any such person.
b)
Any
person one of whose parents was a member of any tribe indigenous to any part of
Africa.
c)
Any
person who consents to be tried by an Area Court.
Moreover, the state
Governor may direct that a person otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of an
Area Court should not be tried by the Court.
Again, the jurisdiction of an Area Court to try offences is derived from the Warrants
under the hand of the Chief Judge establishing them; the Area courts law and
the Criminal Procedure Code (for example, section
12(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code).
Hence, apart from homicide offences, Area courts are
empowered to exercise jurisdiction in criminal cases in respect of which
jurisdiction is expressly conferred on the court either by warrant establishing
them or by any other law.
They also have
jurisdiction to try Penal Code Offences which are mention in Column 7 of
Appendix A to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), where the area court is of the
same grade or of a higher grade than the Area Court mentioned therein.
The jurisdiction of an area court to impose punishment is as follows:
a)
Upper
Area Court: Unlimited except
homicide
b)
Area
court Grade I: 5 years
imprisonment and N1000
c)
Area
Court Grade II: 3 years and N600
d)
Area
Court Grade III: 9 months and N100
Note that appeal lies from the decisions of Area Court Grade I, II
& III to Upper Area Court in
criminal matters an then to State high Court.
Persons who can appeal
against the decisions of Area courts are:
(a)
Any
aggrieved party or any party aggrieved by a decision or order of any area court
and
(b)
Area
Court Inspector in his own motion or upon application of any person concerned.
Lastly, since Area Courts
are inferior courts of record, formal charges are not required for trials
therein under section 387 of the Criminal Procedure Code; but
legal practitioners now have a right of audience – see the case of Uzodimma v. COP; where section 390 of the Criminal
Procedure Code was declared void.
c. Magistrates Courts:
A Magistrate Court in
Lagos state can only impose a maximum imprisonment of Fourteen (14) years. The
jurisdiction of a Magistrate Court to impose punishment is also determined by
the sum total of punishment which it can impose when it is trying a person for
multiple offences.
Its jurisdiction to try an offence depends on whether the offence is indictable or non-indictable. An indictable
offence is any offence which upon conviction may be punishable by a term of
imprisonment exceeding 2 years or by a fine exceeding 200 naira, not being on
offence defined by the law creating it to be punishable upon summary
conviction. On the other hand, a Non-indictable
offence is the opposite.
Consent of the prosecutor
(if he is a Law Officer) and that of the accused person must be obtained before
an accused person can be tried for an indictable offence in a Magistrate Court.
Failure to obtain consent renders the
trial void at initio. Consent may be obtained at any time before defence.
Lastly, Magistrate Courts,
hear criminal Appeals from Customary Courts.
d. High Court of a State:
A High Court is a Superior
Court of record and as such, it is not limited in its jurisdiction to impose punishment. Thus, although a
High Court is limited in its jurisdiction to try offence, it is unlimited in its jurisdiction to impose
punishment. The jurisdiction of the State High Courts is uniform throughout the
Federation except that in the Northern States, appeals in respect of criminal
causes and matters emanating from the Upper Area Courts can be entertained by
the State High Courts.
Also, a Northern State
High Court can impose sentences without trial on cases referred to it from the
Magistrate Court for stiffer penalties pursuant to section 257(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
A State High Court has
jurisdiction to try the following offences:
(a)
All
indictable offences contained in an information/charge;
(b)
All
non-indictable offence brought by way of complaint;
(c)
Appeals
from decisions of Magistrate Courts on Criminal matters.
Take Notice of the following on the issue of CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES – when the court sentences an accused in respect of more
than one offence and it orders such offences to run consecutively, the
aggregate term (the sum total of all the sentences) shall not exceed twice the
limit of the jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court to impose sentences: section 24 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). But, Magistrate Courts’ in
the Southern States cannot exceed the limit of their jurisdiction to impose
penalties even when they pronounce consecutive sentences.
By
consecutive sentence, we mean a convict serving one sentence after the
other; while in concurrent sentences, all the sentences run at the same
time.
Further note that the Court of Appeal does not have original
criminal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court does not also have original criminal
jurisdiction.
e. Juvenile Courts:
Juvenile Courts are established under the Children and Young
Persons Laws (CYPL) of the various states. The have jurisdiction to try all
offenders who are young persons. Generally, young persons are persons who have
attained the age of 14 years but are under the age of 18 years.
All young offenders are
subject to trial by juvenile courts except in two instances:
(a)
where
the juvenile is charged jointly with an adult; and
(b)
where
the charge is one of homicide.
In both instances above,
the trial shall take place in the regular courts. Specifically, in cases of
Homicide, the juvenile court can conduct preliminary inquiry but cannot proceed
to full trial of the offence if a prima facie case is established. A Juvenile Court
cannot impose a term of imprisonment on a young person below Fourteen (14)
years of age.
It must be noted that
children below the age of 7 years are not criminally liable. Children between
the ages of 7 years and 12 years are only criminally liable for criminal acts
or omissions if they are found to have the capacity to know that their acts or
omissions are wrong in law. However, they are not criminally liable for the offence
of rape: State v. Nwabuese. Children
above 12 years but below 14 years are responsible for their acts or omissions
which constitute an offence, but cannot be sentenced to prison. Also, Young
Persons of 14 years but below 18 years of age are criminally responsible for
their criminal acts or omissions.
The age of a juvenile can
be determined by:
(a)
Adducing
direct documentary evidence;
(b)
Oral
testimony as to age of the accused person by his parents or relations or
(c)
Medical
examination by a medical practitioner in a government medical institution.
The material age for the conviction
of a juvenile is the age at the time of commission of the offence: Modupe v. The State.
f. Courts Marshal:
We have ‘General’ & ‘Special’
Court Marshal. A General Court Marshal
is constituted as follows – a) A President
(b) Not less than four members (c) a Waiting Member (d) a liason officer (e) a Judge-Advocate. A general court
marshal with less than 7 members cannot impose a sentence of death.
A special court marshal is
constituted as follows (a) a
President (b) Not less than two
members (c) a waiting member (d) A Liason Officer and (e) a Judge Advocate.
Note that for the purpose
of counting the composition of a court marshal the (a) waiting member (b)
Liason Officer and (c) Judge Advocate is not counted.
A Special Court Marshal
that consists of only two members cannot impose a sentence of more than 1 year.
The Quorum for a court
Marshal is (4) four, excluding the
adjuncts.
Furthermore, the Judge
Advocate shall be a Commissioned Officer that is qualified to practice as a
legal practitioner in Nigeria with at least three (3) post call experience. The
duty of the Judge Advocate is to guide and advice the court marshal on the
rules of evidence, practice and procedure. He does not have a vote in the
decision of the court martial.
The adjectival law
regulating the rules of practice and procedure in the courts martial is the Criminal
Procedure Act.
A person may not be
appointed a member of court-martial unless he is subject to service law and has been an officer in any of the
services of the armed forces for a period of note less than 5 years. The President
of a Court Marshal shall not be under the rank of a Major or corresponding rank
in any of the other services, unless in the opinion of the Convening Officer, a
Major or an officer of corresponding rank having suitable qualification is not,
with due regard to public services, available provided that the President of a Court-Marshal
shall not be under the rank of a Captain or the corresponding ranking in any of
the other services.
Note that for the purpose
of the constitution of the court-marshal (that is quorum) the waiting member,
liason officer and judge advocate should not be counted, they are regarded as
adjuncts to the court: Obisi v. Chief of
Naval Staff. Also by virtue of section
133 of the Armed Forces Act, an officer cannot be tried by a court-marshal
constituted by officer of a lower rank: Okoro
v. Nigerian Army Council (2000) 3 NWLR 647.
Persons who may convene a Court-Marshal
According to section 131 of the Armed Forces Act
only the appropriate superior authorities may convene a court-marshal. A
General Court martial may be convened by the following appropriate superior
authorities (a) The President (b) the Chief of Defence Staff (c) the Service
Chiefs (d) A General Officer Commanding or corresponding command or (e) A Brigade
Commander or corresponding command.
On the other hand, a
special court martial may be convened by the following appropriate superior
authorities (a) a person who may convene a General-Court-marshal as listed
above or (b) the commanding officer of a battalion or of a corresponding unit
in the Armed Forces.
Be that as it may, in
special circumstances, the senior officer of a detached unit, establishment or
squadron may be authorized by the appropriate superior authority to convene a
court martial given that the authority to convene a court-martial may be
delegated by the appropriate superior authority: Nigeria Air Force v Obiosa
Jurisdiction of a Court Marshal over Persons:
By section 130 of the Armed Forces Act, the courts-martial shall have
jurisdiction to try persons subject to
service law. Those who are subject to service law are members of the Nigerian
Army, Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force services.
Thus, members of the Police
Force, Customs and Immigrations Services, Prisons Services, National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Civil Defence, etc are not subject to the
provisions or service law even though they bear arms.
Take notice that, the trial of civil offences by a court marshal does
not oust the jurisdiction of a civil court to try such offences. However, any
civil court that tries a person already convicted by a court-marshal shall in
imposing sentence have regard to any sentence already imposed by the
court-marshal: Section 170(2) of the
Armed Forces Act. But if the officer was already tried by a civil court the
court-marshal can no longer try him.
Also, whereas a general
court-martial can only impose a sentence of death when it consists of at least
seven members; a special court-marshal shall have the jurisdiction and powers
of a general court-marshal, except that where the special court marshal
consists of only two members, it shall not (a)
impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term which exceeds one year or (b) impose a sentence of death.
The offences that are
triable by the courts marshal may be a military
offence or a civil offence. The military offences include (a) aiding the enemy
(b) cowardly behaviour (c) muting (d) insurbordination (d) absence from duty
(e) malingering and drunkenness (f) navigation and flying offences (g) sodomy
(h) sexual relation with the spouse of a service personnel (i) rape and carnal
knowledge (j) irregular arrest and confinement (k) disgraceful conduct, etc.
The civil offences include: assault, manslaughter, murder, robbery, extortion,
burglary and so on. Trial by a court martial does not ground the plea of double
jeopardy.
The decision of a
court-marshal is by a simple majority of the members of the court and in the
case of equality of votes the court shall acquit the accused person. Again, the
decisions of a court-marshal are subject to confirmation by the convening
officer. Also, a death sentence by a court-martial cannot be executed without
the approval of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
Appeal from decisions of courts-martial lie to the Court of Appeal.
Lastly, a person shall not
be tried under the Armed Forces Act unless his trial is begun within three
months after he ceases to be subject to service law or within three years after
the commission of the offence (in case of a person still subject to service
law).
g. Coroner’s Court:
A coroner’s court does not
conduct a criminal trial. All it conducts is an inquest which may at times involve the calling of witnesses and
admission of evidence. The purpose of an inquest is to determine the identity
of the deceased, cause, time and place of death.
Note that where death
occurs in a prison, police custody or after execution, the coroner’s inquest is
mandatory. In other cases the coroner may conduct an inquest.
© Onyekachi Duru Esq and www.legalemperors.com, 2016. (All Rights Reserved) Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Onyekachi Duru Esq and www.legalemperors.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
© Onyekachi Duru Esq and www.legalemperors.com, 2016. (All Rights Reserved) Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Onyekachi Duru Esq and www.legalemperors.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.