NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

COURSE CODE: CSS 152

COURSE TITLE:
INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIAN CRIMINAL LAW

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 COURSE
GUIDE

CSS 152
INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIAN CRIMINAL LAW

Course Team Prof. E. Essien (Developer) - UNICAR

Prof Akin Ibidapo-Obe (Editor) - UNILAG
Mr. Akeem Bello (Co-editor) - UNILAG
Dr. Ifidon Oyakhiromen (Programme Leader) - NOUN
Ayodeji E. O. Ige (Coordinator) - NOUN

NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

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National Open University of Nigeria
Headquarters
14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way
Victoria Island
Lagos

Abuja Office
No. 5 Dar es Salaam Street
Off Aminu Kano Crescent
Wuse II, Abuja
Nigeria

e-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.nou.edu.ng

Published By:
National Open University of Nigeria

Printed 2008

Reprinted 2009

ISBN: 978-058-543-5

All Rights Reserved

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CONTENTS
PAGE

Introduction………………………………………………………... 1
Course Aims………………………………………..……….…….. 1
Course Objectives……………………………………….….…….. 1
Course Materials……………………………………….….…….... 2
Study Units………………………………………….…….……… 2
Textbooks and References……..…………………………………. 2
Course Marking Scheme …………………………………………. 3
Course Overview…………………………………………..……… 3
Assessment………………………………………………………… 3
Tutor-Marked Assignment………………………………………… 4
Final Examination and Grading………………………..…………. 4
How to Get the Most from this Course……………………………. 4
Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials…………………….…..……….. 6
Summary………………………………………….……..………… 6

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Introduction

Welcome to CSS 152: Introduction to Nigerian Criminal Law. This

course is a compulsory course in National Open University of Nigeria
that you must offer in the Criminology programme. This course is
offered in the first semester and it is a 3 credit unit course.

Course Aim

The aim of the course is to expose you to criminal law in Nigeria so that
you will be able to avoid conducts that border on criminality, so that you
will be able to identify what offences are.

This will be achieved by:

i. Introducing you to the meaning of crime

ii. Exposing you to the various elements that must be proved before
an offence is alleged committed
iii. Preparing you to effectively handle criminal matters by liaising
with the appropriate institutions saddled with law enforcement
and the court
iv. Training you to understand and appreciate the domain of
Criminal Law in Nigeria.

Course Objectives

In order to achieve the aims listed above, some general objectives as

well as specific objectives have been set. The specific ones are listed at
the beginning of each unit.

The general objective will be achieved at the end of the course material.
At the end of the course material you should be able to:

i. Define the Sources of the Nigerian Criminal Law

ii. Define Crime
iii. Define the elements of an offence
iv. Know the relationship between elements of offence and
classification of offences
v. Define the various offences
vi. Understand the central role of the police as an institution in law
enforcement.

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CSS152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

Course Materials

For this course, you will require the following materials:

1. The Course Guide

2. Study units which are fifteen (15) in all
3. Textbooks recommended at the end of the units and
4. The Assignment file where all the unit assignments are kept.

Study Units

There are fifteen study units in this course. They are as follows:

Module 1

Unit 1 History and Sources of Nigerian Criminal law

Unit 2 The Definition of Crime
Unit 3 Elements of an Offence
Unit 4 Classification of Offences
Unit 5 Homicide (General Aspects)
Unit 6 Parties to an Offence
Unit 7 Stealing
Unit 8 Obtaining by False Pretence

Module 2

Unit 1 Receiving Stolen Goods

Unit 2 Burglary and House Breaking
Unit 3 Treason
Unit 4 The Offence of Rape
Unit 5 Theories and Types of Punishments
Unit 6 General Principles of Sentencing
Unit 7 The Police and the Administration of Criminal Justice

Each unit contains some exercises on the topic concerned and you will
be required to attempt the exercises. These will enable you evaluate your
progress as well as reinforce what you have learnt so far. The exercises,
together with the tutor marked assignments (TMAs) will help you in
achieving the stated learning objectives of the individual units and the
course.

Textbooks and References

You may wish to consult the references and other books suggested at the
end of each unit to enhance your understanding of the material. Look at
all the references and all other suggested readings to deepen your
knowledge of the course.

ii

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

Course Marking Scheme

Assessment Marks
Assignment Best four assignments scores at
20% each = 30% of total course
mark.
Final Examinations 70% of Total Course Mark
Total 100% of Course Mark

Course Overview

Your assignment file contains all the details of the assignments you are
required to submit to your tutor for marking. The marks obtained from
these assignments will count towards the final mark you obtain for this
course. More information on the assignments can be found in the file.

Unit Title of Work Weeks Assessment

Activ End of
ity Unit
Course Guide
Module 1
1 History and Sources of Nigerian 1
Criminal Law
2 The Definition of Crime 1
3 Elements of an Offence 1 Assignment 1
4 Classification of Offences 1
5 Homicide (General Aspect) 1 Assignment 2
6 Parties to an Offence 1
7 Stealing 1
8 Obtaining by False Pretence 1
Module 2
1 Receiving Stolen Goods 1
2 Burglary and House Breaking 1 Assignment 3
3 Treason 1
4 The Offence of Rape 1 Assignment 4
5 Theories and Types of Punishment 1
6 General Principle of Sentencing 1 Assignment 5
7 The Police and the Administration 1
of Criminal Justice
Revision 1
Examination 1
Total 15 weeks

Assessment

iii

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CSS152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

Your assessment for this course is in two parts: first is the tutor-marked
assignments, and second is the written examination. You will be
required to apply the information and knowledge gained from this
course in completing your assignments. You must submit your
assignments to your tutor in line with submission deadlines as stated in
the assignment file.

Tutor-Marked Assignment
In this course, you will be required to study fifteen (15) units, and
complete the Tutor Marked Assignments provided at the end of each
unit. The assignment attracts 20 marks each. The best four of your
assignments will constitute 30% of your final mark. At the end of the
course you will be required to write a final examination, which counts
for 70% of your final mark.

The assignments for each unit in this course are contained in your
assignment file. You may wish to consult other related materials apart
from your course material to complete your assignments. When you
complete each assignment, send it together with a tutor marked
assignment (TMA) form to your tutor.

Ensure that each assignment reaches your tutor on or before the deadline
stipulated in the assignment file. If for any reason you are unable to
complete your assignment on time contact your tutor before the due date
to discuss the possibility of an extension. Note that extension will not
be granted after the due date for submission unless under exceptional
2circumstances.

Final Examination and Grading

The final examination for this course will be for a duration of three
hours and counts for 70% of your total mark. The examination will
consist of questions that reflect the information in your course material,
exercises and tutor marked assignments. All aspects of the course will
be examined.

How to Get the Best from the Course

In distance learning there is limited interaction between the lecturer and
you. Your course material replaces the lecture. However, there are
provisions for the tutor to interact with you via the phone or you post the
questions on the web i.e. NOUN web Gole’s discussion board.

The practical strategies for working through the course are:

a. Read the course guide thoroughly

iv

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

b. Organize a study schedule. Design a course overview to guide

you through the course.
Note the time you are expected to spend on each unit and how the
assignment relates to the units. Get details of your tutorials,
which is available on the website, on the first day of the semester.

c. Once you have created your own study schedule, do everything to

be faithful to it.

d. Turn to Unit 1 and read the introduction and the objectives for the
unit.

e. Assemble the study materials you will need, the reference books
in the unit you are studying at any point in time.

f. Work through the unit. As you work through the unit, you will
know what sources to consult for further information.

g. Keep an eye on the web Gole for up-to-date course information

h. Before the relevant due dates (about 4 weeks before due dates),
access the assignment file on the web Gole and download your
next required assignment. Keep in mind that you will learn a lot
by doing the assignment carefully. They have been designed to
help you meet the objectives of the course and therefore, will
help you pass the examination. Submit all assignment not later
than the due dates.

i. When you are confident that you have achieved a unit’s objective
you can start on the next unit. Proceed unit by unit through the
course and try to pace your study so that you keep yourself on
schedule.

j. When you have submitted an assignment to your tutor for

marking, do not wait for its return before starting on the next unit;
keep to your schedule. When the assignment is returned, pay
attention to your tutor’s comment both on the tutor marked
assignment form and also the written comments on the ordinary
assignments.

k. After completing the last unit, review the course and prepare
yourself for the final examination.

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CSS152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials

There are 8 hours of tutorials provided to support this course. Tutorials

are for problem solving and it is very important in the course of studying
this course material. You arrange for the date and time of the tutorial
with your tutor.

Your tutor will mark and comment on your assignments; do not hesitate
to contact him on telephone, e-mail or discussion board in case of the
following:

i. You do not understand any part of the study unit

ii. You have difficulties with the assignment
iii. You have a question or problem with an assignment

You learn a lot from participating in discussions and that is the reason
why the issue of tutorials must be taken seriously.

Summary

Check that you have achieved the unit objectives (listed at the beginning
of each unit) and the course objectives (listed in the Course Guide).

vi

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

MAIN
COURSE
Course Code CSS 152
Course Title Introduction to Nigeria Criminal Law

Course Team Prof. E. Essien (Developer) - UNICAR

Prof Akin Ibidapo-Obe (Editor) - UNILAG
Mr. Akeem Bello (Co-editor) - UNILAG
Dr. Ifidon Oyakhiromen (Programme Leader) - NOUN
Ayodeji E. O. Ige (Coordinator) - NOUN

vii

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CSS152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

National Open University of Nigeria

Headquarters
14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way
Victoria Island
Lagos

Abuja Office
No. 5 Dar es Salaam Street
Off Aminu Kano Crescent
Wuse II, Abuja
Nigeria

e-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.nou.edu.ng

Published By:
National Open University of Nigeria

Printed 2008

Reprinted 2009

ISBN: 978-058-543-5

All Rights Reserved

viii

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

CONTENTS PAGE

Module 1 ………………………………………………………… 1

Unit 1 History and Sources of Nigerian Criminal Law….. 1

Unit 2 The Definition of Crime …………………………. 7
Unit 3 Element of an Offence …………………………… 14
Unit 4 Classification of Offences ……………………….. 24
Unit 5 Homicide (General Aspect) ……………………… 33
Unit 6 Parties to an Offence …………………………….. 39
Unit 7 Stealing …………………………………………... 46
Unit 8 Obtaining by False Pretence ……………………... 52

Module 2 ……………………………………………….............. 58

Unit 1 Receiving Stolen Goods …………………………. 58

Unit 2 Burglary and House Breaking …………………… 65
Unit 3 Treason …………………………………………… 71
Unit 4 The Offence of Rape ……………………………... 75
Unit 5 Theories and Types of Punishment ……………… 86
Unit 6 General Principles of Sentencing ………………… 93
Unit 7 The Police and the Administration of Criminal
Justice ……………………………………………. 97
MODULE 1

Unit 1 History and Sources of Nigerian Criminal Law

Unit 2 The Definition of Crime
Unit 3 Element of an Offence Unit
4 Classification of Offences
Unit 5 Homicide (General Aspect)
Unit 6 Parties to an Offence
Unit 7 Stealing
Unit 8 Obtaining by False Pretence

ix

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

UNIT 1 HISTORY AND SOURCES OF NIGERIAN

CRIMINAL LAW

This unit will introduce the students to the History and sources of
Criminal Law in Nigeria. It would enable the students to know the
purpose of Criminal Law as well as the nature of crime. The unit is
ramified as follows:

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 History of Criminal Law in Nigeria
3.2 Purpose of Criminal Law
3.3 The Nature of Crime
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Nigerian society is made of people with diverse cultures,

behaviours and ways of life. The people relate with one another in the
course of their daily existence. In this process, some people
intentionally or advertently often step on the toes of others. A redress
has to be put in place in order to check the excesses of the defaulting
person or group of persons if peace and order are to be maintained in our
organized society. It is on the foregoing premise that government has to
put in place criminal law which regulates the conduct of the people
against fellow citizens and government (public) and private
establishments, and individuals.

Criminal Law which is the law of crime in Nigeria has a good history
and was developed from sources, the subject matters or which will be
examined in greater details in this unit.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

state the source of our criminal law

give account of the history of the criminal law in Nigeria
explain the whole essence of criminal law

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

show how crime could be identified and even distinguished from

what it is not.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Sources of Nigerian Criminal Law

The important source of Nigerian Criminal Law is the English common

law which is the law created by the custom of the people and decisions
of judges in England.

But what appears to be the dominant source of Nigerian Criminal law

are the various statutory enactments such as the constitution, the Acts of
the National Assembly, the Government Councils and Subsidiary
Legislations of government department. It may also include Decrees
and Edicts on criminal matters promulgated during military regimes.

The above statutes which we have mentioned may be grouped into three
distinct categories. The first are the many statutes made by the Federal,
States and Local Government Councils in Nigeria which take care of
various technical or specific offences whose purpose is to regulate the
conduct of the people through sanctions or punishments contained in
such offences.

The second category of criminal statutes are the Criminal Code Act, cap
77 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and the Penal Code Law of 1959
which came into effect in 1960. While the Criminal Code applies in the
Southern States of Nigeria, the Penal Code applies in the Northern
States of Nigeria. These two codes criminalize many offences which are
intended to regulate the conduct of the people.

Another source of Criminal Law, though secondary in classification, is

judicial Precedent which manifests in courts decisions interpreted to
give precision to some difficult legislative provisions.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

1. What are the sources of Nigerian Criminal Law?

2. Can you validly say that our Criminal Law has an origin?

3.2 History of Criminal Law in Nigeria

In pre-colonial Nigeria, there was in existence, some systems of
customary criminal law which regulated the standard of behaviour of the
people. They were generally unwritten.

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

The Moslem community in the North had a highly developed system of

Moslem law of crime with different schools, though; the maliki was the
most dominant. Paganism was also practiced with its unique Paganism
criminal law.

The Lagos colony had the modern English common is law which was
introduced by ordinance No. 3 of 1863. The various political evolutions
which went on in the various protectorates and colonies also led to the
development of criminal law in Nigeria.

In 1904, Lord Lugard, the governor of the Northern protectorate

introduced by proclamation a Criminal Code which incidentally was
made applicable to the whole of Nigeria in 1916 after the famous
amalgamation in 1914.

Following intense advocacy by the Northerners, the Penal Code Law,

No. 18 of Northern Region was introduced in that Region. That exercise
also restricted the Criminal Code of 1916 to apply only in the Southern
part of Nigeria. The Penal Code was tailored against the background of
the Cod of Sudan which itself had its origin from the Indian Penal Code
of 1860.

Elsewhere in Nigeria and particularly in some part of the South, there

was also the application of customary criminal law. At the 1958
Constitutional Conference, it was decided that Customary Criminal Law
be abolished in Nigeria and that decision was articulated in the 1959 Bill
of Rights developed by Nigerians and submitted to the Colonial
Government in London.

The British Home Government approved the request and same was
incorporated in section 22 (10) of the repealed 1963 Republican
Constitution. That section of the constitution read “No person shall be
convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the
penalty therefore is prescribed in a written law”.

The foregoing was the basis for the court’s decision in the case of Aoko
V.Fagbemi (1961) I All M 400. In that case, the court held that a
woman cannot now be convicted for adultery (a morally reprehensible
conduct) which has not been elevated to the level of a crime in the
Criminal Code.

At the moment, Nigeria operates a dual Code system because of the

applicability of the Criminal Code and the Penal Code. Furthermore, for
effective administration of Criminal Law in our courts, the law of
criminal procedure was codified as Criminal Procedure code of 1960 for

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

the North and the Criminal Procedure Act, cap 80, Laws of Federation
of Nigeria 1990.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

1. Trace the history of Criminal Law in Nigeria

2. Discuss the duality of Criminal Code in Nigeria.

3.3 Purpose of Criminal Law

Criminal law exists and it is studied in order to ensure true knowledge of

the law by the people, to be familiar with the nature of crime, the
proceedings to be adopted in prosecution and the punishments which the
law has put in place against the offenders.

For example, the objects of criminal law according to the Wolfenden

Committee on Homosexual offences and protection are:

a. To preserve public order and decency

b. To protect the citizens from what is offensive and injurious and
c. To provide sufficient safeguards against the exploitation and
corruption of the more vulnerable members of the society.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3

What is the importance of Criminal Law to Nigerians?

3.4 The Nature of Crime

In order to understand the nature of crime, one has to look at the legal
consequences which may follow it. For example, if the wrongful act or
omission is capable of being followed by what is called criminal
proceedings, that means it is regarded as a crime other wise, called an
offence. If it is capable of being followed by la civil proceedings that
means it is regarded as a civil wrong.

Crime or criminal wrong on the one hand and civil wrong on the other
hand could be distinguished from each other. The true distinction
between a crime and a civil wrong lies not in the nature of the wrongful
act but in the nature of the proceedings and in the legal consequences
that may follow.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 4

1. How can you distinguish a crime from a civil wrong?

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

2. Write short notes on the varieties of punishment which the law

has put in place for offenders.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit, you have been exposed to the history and sources of
Criminal Laws in Nigeria. It has also sufficiently demonstrated that
nobody can be punished under the laws in Nigeria except the law is
written and punishment defined.

5.0 SUMMARY

This unit has revealed the facts that

Nigerian Criminal Law developed from English common law

The sources of Nigerian Criminal Law are technical statutes on
criminal matters as well as the Criminal Code and the Penal Code
and that case law is a secondary source.
There was in existence unwritten and indigenous laws in Nigeria
before the advent of British rule
The criminal law is instituted in order to regulate the conduct of
the citizens.
It is the nature of proceedings and the legal consequences which
follow particular conduct or omission which characterize the
nature of crime.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSINGMENT

Carefully trace the evolution of Criminal Law in Nigeria.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan: Spectrum

Law Publishing.

Karibi-Whyte, A.G. (1993). History and Sources of Nigerian Criminal

Law. Ibadan: Spectrum Law Publishing.

Williams, G. (1982). Learning the Law. London: Stevens and Sons.

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

UNIT 2 THE DEFINITION OF CRIME

This unit will define crime to enable students to have a good

understanding of the concept. In defining crime, three approaches to wit,
the juristic, judicial and the statutory we shall adopt. An attempt would
also be made to distinguish crime from sin or immorality.

CONTENTS

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Understanding Definitions of Crime
3.2 Juristic Approach to the Definition of Crime
3.3 Judicial Approach to the Definition of Crime
3.4 Statutory Approach to the Definition of Crime
3.5 Crime Distinguished from Sin
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The conduct of the people in any organized society must be regulated in

order to ensure stability and social harmony. This is done through the
mechanism of the law which has criminalized certain acts and omission
as crimes. Crimes are those breaches of the law which the law forbids
and also failing by way of missions to do, what the law has commanded.
It follows that since different sets of people have defined crime
according to their perceptions, we shall predicate our definition of crime
on those perceptions in order to give a clearer understanding and right
focus.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

The focus of this unit is to define crime. At the end of this unit, you
should be able to:

define crime generally

explain how learned writers have defined crime
explain know how the courts, through cases, define crime state know
how various statutes or enacted laws define crime distinguish crime
from acts or omissions which are not crime but immoral.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Understanding Definitions of Crime

There have been problems in the definition of crime and the definition
of crime and the consistent application of the components of such
definition in tailoring the specific offences or crime i.e. the application
of the definitions in the formulation of criminalization policy.

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

Though Criminal Law has been in operation in human communities for

several centuries, yet lawyers have so far never agreed on any
satisfactory definition of the word Crime. But lawyers cannot afford not
to conform to the demands made upon sociologists by Emile Durkheim,
namely that the first step of the sociologist … ought to be to define the
things he treat, in order that his subject matter may be known. This is
the first and most indispensable condition of all proofs and verification.
The lawyers despite their quibblings in definition, however, seem to
have accepted by conduct an operational definition, but expressed and
explained in the words of Terrence Morris, that “crime is what society
says is crime” by establishing that an act is a violation of the Criminal
Law.

The Nigeria Criminal Code appears in effect to have adopted this

approach when it defines an offence (or a crime) as an “act or omission
which renders the person doing the act or making the omission liable to
punishment under the code or under any order in council, ordinance, or
law or statute.

The definition, according to Professor A.A. Adeyemi, is an approach

which is a shining example of mental inertia, wrapped up in the cloak of
an “a posteriori” rationalization, just like any of the other individual
definition.

Another definition that is being suggested is a definition based on an “a

priori” approach. This approach can be usefully employed in
streamlining the criminal saw in a way that will better adapt it to the
fulfillment of its role at the commencement of the Criminal process as a
selection instrument. The a priori approach is suggesting a definition of
crime based on morality. It is opined that criminal law must reflect the
values and aspirations of the Community in which it operates in
reflecting the Morality of that Community; it is thereby reflecting its
culture. However, the argument must not be understood to mean that
courts should be enforcing Morality per se. Rather, it means morality
must be the basis of criminal law i.e. the criminality or otherwise of an
act should depend upon the degree of its anti-sociality or otherwise of an
act must be viewed with reference to the accepted rules of Morality of
the community in question. It is on this basis that crime is defined as
“an act or omission which amounts on the parts of the doer or omitter, to
a disregard of the fundamental values of a society thereby threatening
and/or affecting life, limb, reputation and property of another or the
citizens, or the safety, security, cohesion and order (be this political,
economic or social) of the community at any given time to the extent
that it justifies society’s effective interference through and by means of
it appropriate legal machinery”. This is an “a priori” definition

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

However, the failure of lawyers to agree on a particular satisfactory

definition of crime has led to other multiplicity of definitions which are
institution-based, they are within the acceptable limit and all have the
colouration of the “a posteriori and “a priori” approach to the definition
of crime.

3.2 Juristic Approach to the Definition of Crime

For the purpose of this lecture, the words “crime” and “offence” have
the same meaning assigned to them because they mean one and the same
thing.

Okonkwo and Naish in their books “Criminal Law in Nigeria” define

crime as those breaches of the law resulting in special accusatorial
procedure controlled by the state and liable to sanction over and above
compensation and costs.

The above definition leads us to a distinction between the accusatorial

procedure in which the accused is deemed not guilty until he is found
guilty and inquisitorial procedure wherein the person is neither charged
nor accused but an inquiry is made before commission for trial.

Richard Quinney, in his book “The Social Reality of Crime” (1970),

defined crime as a human conduct that is created by authorized agents in
a politically organized society.

The sociologists and Criminologists define crime to mean nothing other

than a labeling process or that a crime is nothing other than a label
attached to a behaviour by those in power. In addition, they hold the
opinion that crime is the consequence of social interaction.

From the totality of the above definitions advanced by learned writers, it

is suitable to say that crime is that act or omission which the state has
prohibited or commanded.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

What is the attitude of learned writers in the definition of crime?

3.3 Judicial Approach to the Definition of Crime

In the all important case of R. V Tyler 2 QB 594, crime was defined as

an act committed or omitted in violation of public law either forbidding
or commanding it. This is a definition, which has taken root from the

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

definition advanced by Blackstone in the book “Commentaries on the

laws of England” vol. 4 at page 5.

Another case which has defined crime is Conybeare v. London School

Board (1961)1 QB 118 where Day, J. stated that a crime is an offence
against the crown o\for which an indictment will lie. It appears that this
definition is narrow because it seems to have ignored minor offences
that can be tried summarily and not by indictment.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

What is the dimension introduced into the definition of crime by the

court?

3.4 Statutory Approach to the Definition of Crime

The Criminal Code Act, cap. 77 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990
particularly in section 2 thereof has defined crime thus: “An act or
omission: which renders the person doing the act or making the
omission liable to punishment under this Code or under any Act or law
is called and offence”.

From the above definition, it can be seen that if a particular act or

omission has not been criminalized as a crime by the Code or any other
criminal statutes, such act or omission cannot be regarded as an offence
in the eye of the law.

Furthermore, section 11 of the Criminal Code which deals with the

effect of changes in law provides that a person shall not be punished for
doing or omitting to do an act unless the act or omission constituted an
offence under the law in force when it occurred. The Penal Code Law
of Northern Region has also legislated elaborately on this; See S. 3(1) of
the Penal Code Law.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 has provided

for the definition of crime in its section 36 (12) when it says that subject
as otherwise provided by this Constitution, a person shall not be
convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and
penalty therefore is prescribed in a written law which refers to an Act of
the National Assembly or a law of State, any subsidiary legislation or
instrument.

By the above provisions of the Constitution for any act or omission to

constitute an offence, it must have been provided for a written law and
punishment for such offence prescribed accordingly in a written law.

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Section 36 (8) of the 1999 constitution states that no person shall be held
to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that
did not, at the time it took place, constitutes such as offence, and no
penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offence heavier than the
penalty in force at the time the offence was committed.

The above section speaks against retro-active application for an offence

or omission. It emphasizes the fact that a person can only be punished
based on an existing law and on the punishment which that law has
expressly provided for.

For more in this area of the law, see the cases of Aoko v. Fagbemi
(1961) 1 All NLR 400 and Udokwu v. Onugha (1963) 7 ENLR P. 1

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3

1. Can an act or omission not contained in any law and be regarded

as a crime?
2. Can an accused person who has been convicted of an existing
offence be sentenced to punishment which is not contained in the
law creating that offence?

3.5 Crime Distinguished from Sin

We have seen crime to be an act of omission which the law has labelled
as such. But immorality or sin is a different thing. It is an act which
society or community abhors. It is an act of moral depravity. Thus it
can be said that an act may be immoral but not a crime.

Though many illegal or criminal acts are immoral, not all immoral acts
are criminal. For instance, in the Criminal Code which applies in the
Southern States of Nigeria, adultery is not a crime though it is an act of
immorality.

But conduct such as stealing may constitute both a crime and an

immorality and that is not to say that crime and immorality are the same
thing. They are not so and therefore cannot be.
The dictum of Lord Atkin in Proprietary Articles Trade Association v.
A.G. for Canada (1931) AC. 310 at 324 said “Morality and Criminality
are far from co-extensive, nor is the sphere of criminality necessarily
part of amore extensive field covered by morality – “unless the moral
code necessarily disapproves of all act prohibited by the State in which
case, the argument moves in a circle.”

Strictly speaking what the immortal words of Lord Atkin means is that
crime and sin or immorality do not have the same scope and extent.

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This means that as they are co-extensive, they are far from having the
same scope extent and direction.

It is however, important to note that when the criminal law reflects the
society’s sense of morality, the task of law enforcement is likely to be
easier. This is because members of that society would feel a sense of
obligation to obey the law.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 4

1. Is it proper for someone to be prosecuted in court for committing

an immoral act?
2. Why do we say that crime and immorality are far from
co-extensive?

4.0 CONSLUSION
This unit is very important in that attempts were made at defining crime.
The different schools of thought tried to define crime from their own
institutional and perspective view points. Having read through this unit
you should be able to define crime and should be, able to discuss the
relationship between your definition and what operates in Nigeria. As
you go further in your studies these concept shall become clearer to you.

5.0 SUMMARY
The study of this unit highlights the following facts:

The word crime is not different from the word offence. That is if
a particular law does not make a particular act or omission an
offence, such act or omission cannot be regarded as an offence.
While the juristic approach defines crime as an offence against
the State, the judicial approach defines crime as an act in which
an indictment or an information will lie.
The Statutory approach emphasizes the criminalization of an act
or omission for such to be regarded as an offence.
Crime and immorality belongs not to the same but to different
regimes of behaviour.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Using known approached, critically examine the definition of

crime
2. If an accused person is punished for an act which did not
constitute an offence as at the time the offence was committed,
what is the position of the law?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

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Okonkwo & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan: Spectrum

Law Publishing.

Karibi-Whyte, A.G. (1993). History and Sources of Nigerian Criminal

Law. Ibadan: Spectrum Law Publishing.

The Criminal Code Act, Law of the Federation of Nigeria Cap. 77

The Penal Code Law 1959 of Northern Region.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.

UNIT 3 ELEMENT OF AN OFFENCE

This unit will introduce you to the elements of an offence. The elements
of an offence are contained in that particular offence depending on how
such offence is worded. In other words, it is through a thorough
comprehension of the definition of an offence that one will discover the
elements of that offence. This unit is fashioned as follows:

CONTENTS

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Introduction
Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 The Physical Element
3.2 The Mental Element
3.3 The Concurrence of the Physical Element and the Mental
Element
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the accusatorial criminal system applicable in Nigeria, the

prosecution must perforce prove all the elements of an offence for which
an accused person is standing trial. Every offence has two elements,
that is to say, the physical element and the mental element, except strict
liability offences which are complete upon the manifestation of the
physical element only.

The physical element is the act or omission done or omitted while the
mental element is the intent to commit or omit the crime.

The English common law regarded the physical element to mean the
actus reus which is a Latin expression meaning guilty act and the mental
element otherwise known as the mens rea to mean the guilty mind.

While the physical element is manifested in the act complained of, the
mental element requires the proof of knowledge and foresight on the
part of the accused.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

explain what constitutes the physical elements of an offense and its

various manifestations
identify the different states of mind which constitute the mental
element of an offense

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determine when there is the concurrence of the physical and mental

elements as well as exceptions which have been developed through
cases.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Physical Element

The physical element of an offence may manifest by way of a positive

act because intent alone, however wicked and condemnable cannot
amount to an offence. For example, if I slap a person in a manner not
justified by law, I have committed the offence of criminal assault against
that person and that slap against him is the physical element.

Also, if I move a bag to the slightest degree with the intention of

permanently depriving the owner of the use of that bag, I have
committed the offence of stealing against you and the movement of your
bag to the slightest degree from its original position is the physical
element or the actes reus of that offence.

The physical element or the actus reus of an offence can manifest in

words in respect of certain offences such as defamation, sedition, taking
of unlawful oath and even conspiracy. These offences are committed by
words of mouth. The physical element is constituted by words uttered
by the accused person.

The physical element also known as the guilty act can also manifest by
way of possession. It is immaterial that the accused has not begun to put
that thing in his possession to any unlawful use. Section 148 (3) of the
Criminal Code provides for unlawful possession of counterfeit coin or of
a means of making them. Mere possession of the counterfeit coin is
enough to constitute the physical element of that offence. It does not
matter whether you have put the money to use by way of using it to buy.

For more on this, see sections 150, 154 (2), 155 (1), S. 209 and 213 etc
of the Criminal Code Act.

Possession here may not be physical only; it can also be through the
agency of another person in which case it will be constructive
possession.

The physical element of an offence can also manifest by way of a

passive state of affairs. If for example, a club or an association in which
you have been a member is now banned by government, you are
ordinarily supposed to stop forthwith your membership of such a club or

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an association. But where you continue membership after the ban now
becomes the physical element of that offence.

Also, the physical element of an offence can manifest by way of an

omission. Omission is failing or omitting to do what that law has
commanded you to do, the failure of which will ground criminal
liability. The Criminal Code has criminalized such omissions to include
duties imposed on peace officers (police officers) to suppress riot see S.
199 of the Criminal Code, duties imposed on members of the ship’s
crew to obey order and duty placed on a family head to supply
necessaries for a child under fourteen years of age.

One underlying condition which must be present for omission to

constitute the actus reus in criminal law is that such duties criminalized
as omissions must be geared towards avoiding risk of serious harm to
the person where a special relationship exists between the parties.

The mental element or the guilty act can also manifest by way of
consequence. In some offences such as murder and manslaughter, it is
the consequence (e.g. death) which results from the conduct of the
accused person that constitutes the actus reus of such offences.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

What are the various manifestations of the physical element?

3.2 The Mental Element

The introduction of mental element in crime may be attributable to

ecclesiastics who regarded the conscience of men as prime importance.
In their view, that which called for atonement was the evil intention or
motive which prompted the harmful deed.

The mental element or the mens rea is a reference to the mental element
which the prosecution must provide in any particular offence in order to
secure a conviction.

It is not in every offence that a particular mental element must be

proved. There are different species of variety of mental elements
depending on how a particular offence is worded. That is to say, the
mental element of an offence is derived not from elsewhere but from the
way the offence is worded.

It is suitable to state that five basic concepts which may underline the
particular conduct are worthy of mention.

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These are

i. Intention
ii. Recklessness
iii. Negligence
iv. Accident and
v. Unconsciousness

i. Intention

This can only be derived from the circumstance of a particular offence.

Intention here revolves around the issues of forseeability and
desirability.

It simply stated that a man intends a consequence of his action when he

foresees that it may result in harm and desires that he should do so.
Therefore, desire of consequence is the hallmark of intention no matter
how vague or unconscious that desire may be.

Thus if for example in the offence of burglary as contained in S. 411 of

the Criminal Code, specific intents is to be proved by the prosecution, it
must be strictly proved in accordance with the law. See for example the
case of R. v. Steane (1974) KB 997.

There is however a distinction between the common law rules and

intention can be seen in S. 24 of the Criminal Code. At common law,
there is the doctrine of transferred malice as is illustrated in the case of
R. v. Latimer (1886)17 QB 359. In Nigeria and particularly under S. 24
of the Criminal Code, a person must act dependently on the exercise of
his will (i.e. with intention) before he can be guilty of the offence
charged.

Compare the above case of Latimer with another case to wit; R. v.

Pemblition (1874) LR 2 in which the court said that the intent to harm a
group of people cannot be transferred to the breaking of a window.

a. Intention and Motive Distinguished

Having seen what intention is all about, it is sound to state that motive is
reason for the accused person’s conduct which has induced him to act
unlawfully but which does not form part of the metal element of an
offence.

Intention therefore must be distinguished from motive, for, according to

the third limb of S.24 of the Criminal Code, unless otherwise expressly

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declared, the motive by which a person is induced to do or omit to do an

act or to form an intention is immaterial as regards criminal
responsibility.

Motive may therefore take the form of love, fear, jealousy, anger,
ambition, etc. Thus, if I kill my wealthy uncle in order to inherit his
assets, the intention is manifested in the killing while the motive is the
inheritance of uncle’s assets.

But there are certain provisions of the Code in which motive is made the
basis of criminal responsibility. See sections 10, 26, 316 (3) and 377 etc
of the Criminal Code.

ii. Recklessness

Recklessness represents a situation where the accused person foresees

the consequences of his conduct but decides nevertheless to risk it. In
that premise, if the accused foresees a consequence which will arise
from his conduct as a remote possibility, then he is not criminally liable
but if he foresees it as certain to happen, the finding is that he desired
the consequence and therefore intended and by extension will be
criminally liable.

For a clearer understanding, read the case of R. v. Okoni (1938) 4

WACA 1 9 and R. v. Idiong (1950) 13 WACA 30.

iii. Negligence

In negligence, it is said that the accused is blameworthy because a

reasonable man (predicating on objective test) ought to have foreseen
the possible consequence which will arise form his conduct. Thus
negligence is a possible result of one’s conduct which makes him
blameworthy.

Under the English law, the degree of negligence which attracts liability
in a criminal offence is said to be higher than negligence that will attract
liability in a civil matter. To this end, the case of Dabholkar v. R.
(1948) AL 221 is illustrative.

In Nigeria within the regime of criminal law, there are degrees of

negligence. For example, for a conviction to lie in the offence of
manslaughter, the degree of negligence on the part of the accused must
be gross or must be of a very high degree.

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Thus, a person who drives fast and zigzags along the road in a built up
area at night when pedestrians and other vehicles are about shows
complete and criminal disregard for the life and safety of others and is
guilty of gross negligence. (See R. v Adenuga) and Akerele v. R (1942).

There are certain offences in which negligence is made the mental

element. For this we refer you to sections 138, 173 (2), 186, 344 etc of
the criminal code. Also see the case of Edu v. C. O. P (1952) 14 WACA
16.

It should be noted that section 24 CC does not apply to offences in

which negligence is an element. The case of State v. Appoh (1970) is
instructive. In that case section 24 cc did not apply because the accused
conduct of punishing the victim near a river was a negligent act and the
consequence of his game with the victim was foreseeable by a
reasonable third party.

See also Opara v. The State (1998). In this case, the accused drove his
lorry in a high way at 5.30 a.m. zigzag from right to left, in a manner
dangerous to the public, collided with an on-coming pick up from the
opposite direction. The pick up burst into flames killing two people on
the spot. The accused was charged with manslaughter, causing death by
dangerous driving. In his defence, the accused said he had crossed the
road, and parked his lorry when the pick up van ran into his lorry and hit
the vehicle.

The trial court rejected his defence and convicted him on all the three
counts. Allowing his appeal, the Court of Appeal said that the degree of
negligence required to support a charge of manslaughter must amount to
gross or criminal negligence, utter recklessness in disregard for the lives
and safety of the road users.

Furthermore, you should regard the distinction between negligence

required to establish a case of causing death by dangerous driving and
that for manslaughter. The degree of negligence required to establish a
case of causing death by dangerous or reckless driving falls short of that
required for conviction for manslaughter. To sustain a charge of
manslaughter, the negligence should be such as showed a disregard for
the life and safety of others as to amount to a crime against the State and
conduct deserving of punishment (Abdullahi v. Sate (1985)).

iv. Knowledge

There are certain things in which the law requires that the accused
person must have knowledge of a particular existing circumstance. In
order to appreciate the enormity of the above mental condition, see the

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cases of R. v. Onuoha (1983) 3 WACA 88 and R. v. Obiase (1938) 4

WACA 16.

v. Voluntary Conduct

An accused person can only be guilty of his voluntary conduct because

he cannot be considered to be acting if his physical movement is
unconscious or involuntary.

If a person does something in a state of mental blackout or his sleep,

then in law, he is not acting and there is no criminal liability because of
the involuntariness of his conduct.

In Nigeria, the law is well stated in section 24 of the criminal code and it
provides that, except in negligent acts or omission, a person is not
criminally responsible for an act or omission which occurs
independently of the exercise of his will or for an act or for an event
which occurs by accident.

It is worthy to state that where the actor is completely unconscious of

what he is doing, the physical element is said to be present but the
mental element is lacking.

vi. Strictly Liability Offences

It is not in all offences that the prosecution is required to prove both the
physical and the mental elements. There are some offences in which the
law requires the prosecution prove the physical element only. Where
this happens it is said that those offences are strict liability offences.

These therefore, are offences in which the enacting authority dispenses

with the proof of the mental element. In strict liability offences a
successful proof of the physical element is enough to secure a
conviction against the accused person.

See the case of R. v. Efana (1972) 8 NLR 81 and search the Criminal
Code of bring out strict liability offences.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

1. Can we validly say that intention is the only concept of mental

element?
2. Outline the various concepts relating to the mental element of an
offence.

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3.3 The Concurrence of the Physical Element and the Mental

Element

The physical element must co-exist with the mental element and they
must simultaneously or contemporaneously complement each other as a
matter of law. This is an English Law concept and its import is yet to be
firmly considered in Nigeria Law according to the learned authors of
Okonkwo and Naish in their book Criminal Law in Nigeria.

It is another way of saying that both the actus reus and the mens rea of
an offence correspond.

Exceptions

It is important to state that exceptions have been developed through case

law to the principle of concurrence of physical and mental elements.

The first of such exceptions was developed by Lord Denning in the case
of Attorney General for Northern Ireland v. Gallagher (1963) AL 349.
In that case, the learned law Lord opined “Where a person whilst sane
and sober forms an intention to kill and then prepares for it, knowing it
to be a wrong thing to do, he cannot thereafter rely on self induced
drunkenness as a defence to a charge of murder”.

In the above Case, the House of Lords allowed the appeal on the basis
that if before the killing, the accused had discarded his intention to kill
or reserved it and got drunk, it would have been a different matter, but
when he forms the intention to kill and without any interruption
proceeds to get drunk and carries out his intention, then his drunkenness
is no defence, moreso it is dressed up as a defence on insanity. There
was no evidence in the present case of any interruption. Lord Denning
said that the wickedness of the accused person’s mind before he got
drunk is enough to condemn him coupled with the act which he intended
to do which he actually did.

The second of such exceptions is that if the actus reus is a continuing

one, it is sufficient that the accused has mens rea during its continuance;
mens rea gallops up to coincide with the actus reus.

The second exception, as highlighted above, can better be understood

based on the decided case of Fagan v. Metropolitan Police
Commissioner (1968) 3 ALL ER 442.

The third exception is that when the actus reus is part of a larger
transaction, it is said to be sufficient if the accused possessed the intent

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during the transaction, though not at the moment the actus reus was
accomplished.

The Indian case of Khandu (1890) ILR Bombay 196 and the Rhodesian
case of Shorty (1950) SR 280 were ordinarily decided on the basis of the
principle of the concurrence of the physical and mental elements and the
accused persons were not found guilty as charged. But the case of the
Thabo Meli v. R. i1954) 1 WLR took a different view.

The Privy Council said that the actus reus which caused the death of the
deceased by exposure is part of a larger transaction of an earlier
intention to kill him with a strike.

See similar cases such as State v. Maselina (1968) 2 SA 558 and

R. v. Church (1961) 1QB 59.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3

1. Discuss the principle of the concurrence of the physical and

mental elements and the exceptions.
2. What is the ratio for the court’s decision in the case of Khandu
(1890) 1LR Bombay 196?

4.0 CONCLUSION

Human behaviour in every society is regulated by a minimum code of

conduct and in the case of any behaviour outside the scope of this
minimum conduct, an offence is presumed to have been committed. In
this unit, we demonstrated your understanding of the importance of the
application of the general criterion of the elements of offence and how it
is used in solving disputes about the unlawfulness of a particular act
which complies with the definitional elements of crime and whether
certain conducts falls within the scope of a generally recognized ground
of justification with reference to crime.

5.0 SUMMARY

From the study conducted in this unit, it is suitable to state that:

Every offence except strict liability offence has two elements.

Those two elements are known as the physical element and the
mental element.
That there are various ways by which the physical element of an
offence can manifest.
There are some concepts which underlie the mental element.

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The principle of concurrence emphasizes the fact of simultaneous

occurrence of the physical and mental element.
The principle of concurrence is not sacrosanct because of
exceptions which have been developed over the years through
case law.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

“A” intending to kill “B” strikes him with a sharp knife and thinking
that “B” is dead whereas he has not died, throws his body into Qua Iboe
River and “B” is now dead due to exposure, what is the position of the
law relating to the principle of concurrence.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Fletcher, G. Rethinking Criminal Law.

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Smith & Hogan Criminal Law.

UNIT 4 CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCES

The purpose of this unit is t examine the classification of offences and

the basis of criminal responsibility. This is predicated on the fact that
responsibility or liability shall lie where it shall happen to fall and shall
not be shifted elsewhere. This unit shall be examined on the following
items:

CONTENTS

Introduction

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2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 The Actual Classification of Offences
3.2 The Principle of no Liability without Fault
3.3 The Sources of the Principle
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION
It is a known phenomenon in criminal law that offences are classified
into different categories. The classifications are not contained in the
sections creating the offence; they are contained in the punishments
attached to the offences. A person should be punished for the offence
which he or she committed which is the basis of criminal responsibility.
Such a person cannot properly in law be punished for another person’s
offence except where there is vicarious liability permitted by law.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

show how offences are classified

explain the basis of criminal liability
define the concept of no liability without fault.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Classification of Offences

In English law, there is the classification of offences into common law
offences and statutory offences. Common law offences are those
offences which were developed from the customs and tradition of the
English people. Statutory offences are offences which were put in place
by the various enacting authorities in England.
In Nigeria, the classification of offences is contained in S. 3 of Criminal
Code. That section provides for classification into felonies,
misdemeanour and simple offences and it applies only in the southern
part of Nigeria

A felony is any offence which is declared by law to be a felony, or is

punishable without proof of previous conviction, with death or with
imprisonment for three years or more.

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A misdemeanour is any offence which is declared by law to be a

misdemeanour, or is punishable by imprisonment for not less than six
months, but less than three years.

All offences other than felonies and misdemeanours, are simple

offences. Section 3 CC.

This division of crimes into felony, misdemeanor and simple offence

applies only in the Southern part of Nigeria.

In the northern part of Nigeria where the Penal Code applies, no such
classifications have been made. But these classifications as above,
covers all manner of offences in Southern part irrespective of whether
such offences are contained in the Criminal Code or not.

It is suitable to note that no section creating an offence has clearly

declared such offence to be a felony, misdemeanor or simple offence.
The gravity of the offence and the punishment allayed to it informs the
class into which a particular offence belongs.

We shall now approach section 3 of the criminal code in order to

discover the three classifications. That section defines a felony, as any
offence which is declared by law to be a felony or is punishable without
proof of previous conviction, with death or with imprisonment for three
years or more.

A misdemeanor is defined as any offence which is declared by law to be

a misdemeanor or is punishable by imprisonment for not less than six
months but less than three years. And finally that section concludes by
providing that all offences, other than felonies and misdemeanor are
simple offences.

There are certain consequences which result from the above

classification. They are both procedural and substantive. In terms of
procedure, the power of a private person to arrest a suspected
misdemeanant is more limited than his power to arrest a suspected felon.
Similarly, the granting of a bail is lot more limited than when the
offence involved is a felony. The substantive consequence of
classification into felonies, misdemeanors and simple offences are: first
that it is only in respect of felonies that we have offences such as
compounding felonies (see S. 127 of Criminal Code) and neglect to
prevent the commission of an offence (i.e. neglect to prevent felony as
contained section 515 of the Criminal Code).

Again, the punishment for attempts or conspiracies to commit offences

and for being an accessory after the fact will vary in accordance with

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whether the substantive offence, if committed, was a felony,

misdemeanor or simple offence.

Furthermore, certain defences are available on charges of assault of

more serious harm which result in death committed by public officers or
private citizens in preventing the escape of a felon that are not available
to other murder. See section 271 and 272 of the Criminal Code.

3.2 The Principle of no Liability without Fault

The learned authors, Okonkwo and Naish, submit that all legal systems
have to some degree or other incorporated the simple moral idea that no
one should be convicted of a crime unless he willed the fault and same
attributed to him.

An illustration will explain the foregoing. If A kills B; A’s fault of

killing B cannot be transferred to his father because there was no fault
on his father’s part which will make the latter liable despite the fact that
the father has a moral duty to bring up A well just as his child.

In order to prove that the accused is liable, it is left for the prosecution to
prove the existence or otherwise of mens rea and it is analytical to state
that the mens rea doctrine is used to describe the statutory principle
under the common law situation, which runs through all offences.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

What do you understand by the principle of liability without fail?

3.3 Sources of the Principle

There are two sources to which the principle of no liability without fault
could be traced. The first is predicated on English law as a source and
the second is anchored on Nigerian law as a source.

a. English Law as a Source

Okonkwo and Naish have said that in English law, the scope of the
doctrine of mens rea (guilty mind) depends on whether a particular
crime is a common law offence or a statutory offence. It is worth
recapitulating that common law offences derive from the customs and
tradition of the English people while statutory offences are those
contained in enacted statutes.

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At common law, there is a legal presumption that an accused person is

innocent until he or she is proved guilty. An offence requires proof of a
guilty mind but if the offence is constituted, there is a factual
presumption or presumption of fact that proof of guilty mind depends on
whether the statute requires such proof or not. In Nigeria, every offence
by whatever mode it is constituted, is a statutory offence and must be
written and therefore known to law.

The mens rea doctrine was decided upon in the case of Lim Chik Aik v.
R (1963) AC 160. In that case, the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council accepted the immortal words of Wright J in the often cited case
of Sherras v. de Rutzen (1895) 1QB 918 to the effect that “there is a
presumption that mens rea or evil intention or knowledge of the
wrongfulness of the act is an essential ingredient in every offence.

“But that presumption is liable to be displaced either by the words of the

statute creating the offence, or by the subject matter with which it deals,
and both must be considered”.

But there are certain offences in which mens rea doctrine is displaced in
which case it will be said that liability is strict. It is strict because in
such offences, the law does not require the proof of mental element or
the guilty mind. The proof of actus reus or the guilty act is enough for
the conviction of the accused person.

Foster Sutton, P. in Amof a v. R (1952) 14 WACA 238 said that in order

to determine whether mens rea (that is to say a guilty mind or intention
is essential element of the offence charged), it is necessary to look at the
object and terms of the law hat creates the offence.

b. Nigerian Law as a Source

The principle that no person should be punished without being guilty is

contained in section 24 of the Criminal Code and it states that:

“subject to the express provisions of this code relating to

negligent acts and omissions, a person is not criminally
responsible for an act or omission which occurs independently of
the exercise of his will or for an event which occurs by accident.”

Under this category, the accused would have acted or omitted to act
under a condition which is involuntary…. – i.e. independently of his/her
will. This defence is separate from the defence of accident and should be
treated as such. The defence comes under the generic term ‘auto

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malison’ – an involuntary occurrence such as somnambulism, black out,

convulsion, spasm etc.

There are two arms in the above section, these are:

a. a person is not criminally responsible for an act or omission

which occurs independently of the exercise of his will.
b. a person is not criminally responsible for an event which occurs
by accident.

This is a defence of accident. It is not a mater of absence of will or

consciousness but an event which was unexpected.

You should try to distinguish between the two defences of auto malison
and accident. Suppose you are working with a matchet in a field in the
company of other workers. You are suddenly stung by a bee in the
back. In a quick reaction, you tried to use the flat side of the matchet to
hit that part of the body to get rid of the bee. The matchet lands on the
head of a co-worker either by slipping of your hand or because of the
swift manner you swung around.

Although you had the will to swing around to make use of the matchet,
the result of what you did was an event which occurred suddenly and
unexpectedly. It is an accident.

Again suppose you suddenly have a spasm which swung you round
unconsciously resulting in the matchet landing on the head of the co-
worker. This is not an accident. It is auto malison. The act of swinging
round occurred independently of the exercise of your will. It was an
unwilled act negating any mental sate of voluntariness.

The case of Opara v. State (1998) 2 NWLR (pt 536) 108 reinforced the
new position on the degree of Negligence required to support the case.

The word “act” which is contained in section 24 of the criminal code is

the physical element (guilty act) within the surrounding circumstances
in which the act or omission occurs.
Also the word “event” as contained in section 24 of the criminal code
means the result of human conduct. Thus, on the facts of Timbu Lohan
v. R (1968) 42 A;JR 259 at 303, Waindeyer L. said that “an event in this
context refers to the outcome of some action or conduct…”. In that case
the striking of the baby on the head was an “act” and the death of the
baby an “event”. An event which occurs by accident connotes an act
totally unexpected, unwilled, unintentional and without any fault as
against an act which is deliberative, willed or intentional (Thomas v.
State (1994)).

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Opera v. State (Supra) The utter recklessness in disregard for lives and
safety of other road users was said to be negligent.

Again the word “accident” which is contained in section 24 of the

Criminal Code deserves a discussion. “An effect is said to be accidental
when the act by which it is caused is not done with the intention of
causing it …” See Stephen’s Digest of Criminal Law, 9th Ed. p.260.

Generally, accident (not traffic accident) means a fortuitous

circumstance, event, or happening without any human agency, or if
happening wholly or partly through human agency, an event which,
under the circumstances, is unusual and unexpected by the person to
whom it happens. The word may be employed as denoting a calamity,
casualty, catastrophe, disaster, an undesirable or unfortunate happening,
any unexpected personal injury resulting from any unlooked for mishap
or occurrence, any unpleasant or unfortunate occurrence that causes
injury, loss, suffering or death. An event that takes place without one’s
foresight or expectation, an undersigned sudden and unexpected event.
(Agwu v. State (1998)

Defence of accident under section 24 CC. applies even though the act
done is unlawful: (R v. Martyr (1962), Festus Amayo v. The State (2001)
18 NWLR p. 745 251 and Agwu v. The State (1998) 4 NWLR (pt. 544)
90.

The word “will” which is also contained in section 24 of the Criminal

Code should similarly be examined. An intended act in the sense that
the actor intended by his action to achieve the full operation of that
action as it proved to be and in fact, must necessarily be regarded as a
willed act. See Barwick C. J in Timbu Kilian v. R (supra).

It seems plain that the Common Law principle of mens rea (i.e. no
liability without fault) is the same with section 24 of the Criminal Code.
Okonkwo and Naish have argued and rightly too that the words “mens
rea” should not be used in our Criminal law because the criminal code
which we use, has already provided in S. 24 what the mens rea doctrine
does in common law in relation to the principle of no liability without
fault. They argue that the need to import it into our criminal law
therefore has been defeated by S. 24 of the Criminal Code and that
section 24 of the criminal code is eider in scope and applicability.

Where the court held that the situation reflected in S. 24 of the Criminal
Code is that no criminal responsibility is due to a person for an event
which occurs by accident. This involves a voluntary act, but where the
voluntary act results in an event which was neither intended nor

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foreseen, the consequences is an accident. The court defined accident as

contained within section 24 of the Criminal Code as an act totally
unexpected, unwilled, unintentional and without any fault as against an
act which is deliberative, willed or intentional (Thomas v. State [1994] 4
NWLR (pt 337) 129.

See the case of Agwu v. State (1998). Here, the appellant and his
deceased brother had a melee, struggled over a rod, resulting in some
vandalism and the deceased sustained some injuries, bled from upper
shoulder and subsequently died. Neither party showed satisfactorily
how the deceased got the fatal injury. The trial court convicted the
appellant but the Court of Appeal in a unanimous judgement allowed the
appeal.

You should remember that the onus is on the prosecution to disprove the
defence of accident. If the prosecution therefore failed as in the instant
case, to show satisfactorily how the deceased got the fatal injury in the
scuffle and the true cause of the injury or hurt was unknown, then the
hurt or injury would qualify as and be called an accident. The Court of
Appeal held as the defence of accident, like all other defences,
presupposes that the accused physically committed the offence but
should be acquitted because it was an accidental act.

This principle is further illustrated in the case of Amayo v. The State

(2001). In that case, a policeman at a road block ordered a pick-up van
to stop. The driver tried to move on. Another policeman (accused)
emerged, just then, there was a gunshot. A bullet from the gun fired
fatally hit the conductor. The policeman was charged with murder. His
defence was that his rifle fell from him, hit the ground and exploded just
on the pick-up van which was passing by. He said he had no intention
to fire, let alone kill. Hid defence was one of accident. But the High
Court and the Court of Appeal rejected this defence, convicted him of
murder and sentenced him to death. The accused further appealed to the
Supreme Court.

The issue canvassed before the Supreme Court was whether the
appellant was exculpated from criminal responsibility for the death of
the deceased by virtue of the provisions of section 24 cc.

The Supreme Court held that no act is punishable if it is done

involuntarily. And an involuntary act in this context (otherwise known
as ‘auto malison’) means an act which is done by the muscles without
any control by the mind. Or done by a person who is not conscious of
what he is doing. The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the appeal
and substituted a conviction of manslaughter for murder.

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We shall discuss this further when we come to study defences to

criminal responsibility.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

What is the relevance of the case of Timbu Kian v. R (1982) to our

Criminal Law?

4.0 CONCLUSION

Essentially, the purpose of offences being defined with commensurate

punishment attached if for certainty in the society. In this unit, you were
exposed to the fact that offences are classified based on the weight of
their criminal responsibility. This unit is very important in that we
discussed law, offences and punishment. It helps you to know the
consequences of certain acts and that a person can only be punished for
the alleged offence committed not on another one.

5.0 SUMMARY

Offences are classified into felonies, misdemeanor and simple

offences.
The classification is determined by the nature of punishment
attached to a particular offence.
That a person can only be punished for his fault and not the fault
of others.
That the English law and Nigerian law provide sources for the
principle of no liability without fault.
That except, there is negligence, section 24 of the criminal code
provides a defence to an accused person who successfully pleads
it.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. If I strike my brother with a sharp knife in a manner not justified

by law, it is an act, and if death results from my act, it an event.
Discuss the above statement.
2. What are the consequences of classification of offences in our
law?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Stephen’s Digest on Criminal Law 9th Edition.

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Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Smith & Hogan Criminal Law.

UNIT 5 HOMICIDE (GENERAL ASPECT)

Unit 5 is so designated to teach you the general aspect of Homicide

which is criminalized offence in Nigeria. It would enable you to know
when a particular wrongful act resulting in the death of the victim will
be regarded as Homicide and when it cannot be so regarded.

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives

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3.0 Main Content

3.1 Meaning of Homicide
3.2 Physical Element of Homicide
3.3 The Tissue of Causation
3.4 Unlawful Homicide (Murder)
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The offence of Homicide is frowned upon in our society.

In the olden days, any person who killed another was made to pay the
supreme price, i.e. death on the culprit. As the society develops, killing
one another in a manner not justified by law was criminalized and it
became an offence. The law, since then, has introduced or imposed
sanction against the accused and has also spelt out the ingredients of the
offence.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

give a general explanation of homicide

explain what constitutes the guilty act of the offence
determine when not to act in manners which will amount to unlawful
homicide in breach of the law.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Homicide (General Aspect)

1. Homicide means the killing of a person in a manner not justified

by law. In the olden days, the laws was so strict that it did not
matter or not whether you foresaw or intended the death which
occurred, but would be punished directly if death occurred from
your act.

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2. The offence of Homicide is unique because it is something much

more than personal injury. It is a violation of the sanctity of
human life.

3. It is often said that because of the damnable nature of the acts, the
law in Nigeria, through the Criminal Code Act chapter 77 laws of
the Federation of 1990 particularly in section 319 thereof, has
prescribed death as a penalty for the act of homicide. The reason
for making homicide an offence punishable by death in our law is
predicated on the principle of fair deserts as a theory of
punishment.

4. in modern times however, resort is often used for the physical

element (guilty acts or actus reus) and the mental element (guilty
mind or mens rea) in order to determine the degree of liability of
the offender, and this has gone to modify it as it used to be and as
our fore bearer used to know it.

3.2 The Physical Element in Homicide

To amount to “physical element” in homicide, one must be responsible

for the cause of the death of another person in the manner not justified
by law. Thus, once there is death by an unjustified act of one against the
deceased, there is said to be the physical element (actus reus) of
homicide. It follows from the above that the victim of homicide is a
human being and not otherwise. The question that readily follows is:
what categories of human beings qualify to be victim of homicide? If
for example A kills F child through abortion, a father’s question is: Has
the child become a human being? The answer can be taken from a
careful reading of S. 307 of the criminal code which reads “A child
becomes a person capable of being killed when it has completely
proceeded in a living state form the body of its mother, whether he
breathed or not and whether it has an independent circulation or not and
the x naval string is severed or not”.

The above quoted section of the criminal code is explained to mean that
a child becomes a human being when it comes out completely out of the
mother’s womb alive. Thus, the law is that the child must have been
completely removed from its mother’s body as was decided in the case
of R. v. Poulton (1. 32) 5C & x.329 and it is enough that life should exist
in a child at the time he was born.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

What is the nature of homicide involved in S. 307 of the criminal code?

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3.3 The Issue of Causation

The question which arises for consideration here is: when will death
occur so as to amount to homicide according to law. In order to answer
the question, it is necessary to explore the provision of section 314 of
the criminal code which says that “a person is not deemed to have killed
another if death of that other person does not take place within a year
and a day of the cause of death”. That section goes on to state that such
period is calculated to include the day on which the last unlawful act
contributing to or resulting in the cause of death was done. For more
elaborate reading, see S. 314 generally and case of R. v. Dead son 1908
DB 454.

Section 308 of the criminal code reveals that death could be caused
directly by any means whatsoever. One can thus see that from the
wording of section 308 of Criminal Code, it seems plain to say that
section 24 of the Criminal Code is moribund if death occurs directly by
any means in accordance with the said Section 308 of the Criminal
Code. Still within the meaning of the general aspect of homicide,
section 310 says that a person who by threat or intimidation or by deceit
causes another person to do act or make omission which results in the
death of that other person, he is deemed to have killed him.

From the way section 310 of the Criminal Code is worded, two
situations which may arise for consideration are:

i. Where the accused intends that the deceased should do an act

after a threat.
ii. When the accused only comes to intimidate and goes away
thereafter. For this see the case of R. v. Nwaoke (1939) 5 WACA
120.

Again, a look at section 311 of the Criminal Code reveals acceleration

of death and it says that a person who does any act or makes any
omission which hastens the death of another person who, when the act is
done or the omission id made, is labouring under some disorder or
disease arising from another cause, is deemed to have killed that other
person.
This could happen in a situation where a person strangulates a patient in
a hospital bed or the victim at an accident scene. On a general note,
sections 300, 301, 302, 309 also treat issues relating to the above broad
subject matter.

3.4 Unlawful Homicide (Murder)

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There are two types of homicide, namely, lawful and unlawful

homicide. The law relating to unlawful homicide is contained in S. 306
of the Criminal Code. That section states categorically that “It is
unlawful to kill any person unless such killing is authorized or justified
or excused by law”.

The section by implication means that some homicides are lawful while
others are unlawful. It is lawful when authorized by law in a situation
where a hangman hangs a condemned criminal, where a soldier in action
kills, where a soldier shoots and kills a condemned armed robber tied to
a stake or a police officer kills a fleeing robber suspect or where a peace
officer kills a person who has committed a felony as contemplated by s.
271 of the Criminal code.

While section 315 of the Criminal Code defines murder or unlawful

homicide, S. 283 of the Criminal Code defines provocation, which when
successfully raised as a defence may reduce homicide to manslaughter,
which itself is a lesser offence constituted in section 317 of the Criminal
Code.

S. 316 of the Criminal Code deals with six circumstances that can
constitute the offence of a murder. Section 316 (1) says that it is murder
if the offender intends to cause the death of the person killed or that of
some other person. And by S. 316 (2), if the offender intends to do to
the person killed or to some other person some grievous harm.

Section 316 generally cannot be discussed without references to

intention. Intention means desire of consequence, and it could be
derived from the circumstance of a particular case. See the classical
case as Edington v. Fitzmaurice (1855) 1 CH.D 459 and the Nigerian
cases of R.v. Omoro (1961) 1 All NLR 233 and Nungu v. R. 14 4ACA
374.

From S. 316 of the Criminal Code, it is clear that for the offence of
murder to occur, there must be killing or death must occur and the
offender must intend to do the person killed, or some other person,
grievous bodily harm, often shortened as GBH. Section 1 of the
Criminal Code defines grievous (bodily) harm as “any harm which
amount to a maim or dangerous harm as defined in this section or which
seriously or permanently injures health, or which is likely so to injure
health, or which extends to permanent disfigurement or to any
permanent or serious injury to any external or internal organ, member or
sense.

In R. v. Ntah, (1961) 1 All NLR 590, it was made clear that if the
intention of the accused is not to cause grievous harm but so results to it.

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such an accused should not be convicted of murder under S. 316 (2) of

the Criminal Code. For a contrary view, see the case of R. v. Vickens
(1957) NLR 326. Section 316 (3) of the Criminal Code says that if
death is caused by means of an act done in the prosecution of an
unlawful purpose which act is of such nature as to be likely to endanger
human life, the person who caused the act is similarly guilty of murder.

In order to answer the question whether “the act” and “the unlawful
purpose” as contained above are the same thing, see the case of R. v.
Nichols (1958) Qd EN 46, in which the Circuit Court held that since the
act which caused death, i.e. setting fire to the hotel, was also the
unlawful purpose, section 302 (2) of Queensland Criminal Code, which
is similar to S. 316 of our Criminal Code, was inapplicable.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

Mention six instances in which murder can manifest within the meaning
of S. 316 (1) of the Criminal Code.

CONCLUSION

In this unit we showed that the Law must continually strike a balance
between the conflicting interests of individuals or between the
conflicting interests of society and the individuals. We demonstrated
that when certain conduct is branded unlawful by the Law, this means
that according to the legal conviction of society certain interests or
values protected by the Law (such as life, property and dignity) are
regarded as more important than others. In order to determine whether
conduct is unlawful one must therefore enquire whether the conduct
concerned conflicts with the legal conviction of the society.

You should understand by now that the grounds of justification must be

seen as practical aids in the demonstration of unlawfulness. It is against
this background that the study of this unit becomes very significant.

5.0 SUMMARY

Homicide is the killing of a human being by another in the

manner not justified by law.
The physical element in Homicide is death which has resulted
from the act.
The act of the accused must contribute to the death of the victim.
Unlawful Homicide which is murder which means the killing of a
person in such a way which is not excused by law.

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There are several instances in which unlawful homicide can

manifest.
Homicide may be lawful as when a policeman shoots and kills a
fleeing felon or when a hangman hangs a condemned criminal.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKEDASSIGNMENT

If a man kills his brother during a brawl, can his wife who was away in
the market at that time be charged alongside her husband with the
offence of murder?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Criminal Code Act, Cap 77, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.

UNIT 6 PARTIES OF AN OFFENCE

This unit will introduce you to the parties to an offence. You will learn
about principal offenders as well as accessory after the fact to the
offence already committed. The schematic approach of the unit is set
thus:

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction

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2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Liability Affecting a Principal Offender
3.2 Classes of Principal Offenders
3.3 Liability as an Accessory after the Fact
3.4 Limit of Liability as an Accessory
3.5 The Mental Element of Principal Offender
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the commission of an offence, a number of persons may be involved

and the level of their involvement may not be the same. The law, on
that premise, will have to decide the extent of one’s criminal liability.
According to the criminal code, two classes of parties have been
identified. They are the principal offenders and the accessory after fact.

The provisions of the code which deals substantially with parties of

offences are sections 7, 9 and 10. Sections 510-521 also of the Criminal
code are instructive. All the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to
parties to offence apply to all categories whether many offences are
contained in the code or any other law or enactment.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

tell who a party to an offence is

explain why such a person should be regarded as a party to an
offence
state types of principal offenders
explain the liability of an accessory after the fact.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Liability Affecting a Principal Offender

Within the meaning of a principal offender, four categories have been

highlighted by section 7 of the criminal code. That section provides
thus: “when an offence is committed, each of the following person is
deemed to have taken part in committing the offence and to be guilty of
an offence, and may be charged with actually committing it, that is to
say;

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a. every person who actually does the act or makes the omission
which constitute an offence;
b. every person who does or omits to do any act for the purpose of
enabling or aiding another person to commit the offence;
c. every person who aids another person in committing the offence;
d. any person who counsels or procures any other person to commit
the offence.

3.2 Classes of Principal Offenders

Section 7 (a) of the Code provides for every person who actually does
the act or makes the omission which constitutes the offence. This
contemplates the person who for example slaps another thereby
committing a criminal assault. It also has to do with the man who set
fire to a house thereby committing the offence of arson.

The man, who makes the omission, is for example, the family head who
fails to provide the necessaries of life of a child under the age of
fourteen contrary to section 301 of the Criminal Code.

Sometimes it could be that the person who does the act is acting
innocently in furtherance of any other person’s criminal intention, in
such a situation, the man (person who does the act) is not criminally
responsible for the act complained of. Instead, the man who used him
(the principal) will be liable for the act done in accordance with section
7(d) of the criminal code.

Also, a child who is an infant is covered by section 30 which grants him

the status of immaturity, any person who uses him for the commission
of any offence, will not be liable for counseling and procuring under
section 7(d) of the Criminal Code.

Section 7(b) of the Criminal Code involves on who des or omit; to do

any act for the purpose of enabling or aiding another person to commit
the offence.
Under section 7(b) of the Criminal Code, the act of assistance is given
before the act constituting the offence. It is manifested by any form of
assistance given prior to the act of the crime. When it comes to
assistance, it does not mater that the assistance given is of no help to the
person committing the crime.

Section 7(c) of the Criminal Code talks about every person who aids
another person in committing the offence. When it comes to assistance,
the West African Court of Appeal held thus “We are of the opinion that
to bring a person within this section (that is to say S. 7(c) of the

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Criminal Code), there must be clear evidence that the appellant did
something to facilitate the commission of the offence – see the case of
Enweonye v. R. (1955) WACA 1.

The law is that, if the aid or the assistance is given while the
commission of the offence lasts, the aider will equally be criminally
liable. See the case of R. v. Johnson (1973) Wd R 303 as well as the
case of R. v. Mayberry (1 1; 73) Qd R 211.

It is settled law that mere presence at the scene of the crime without
more does not make the man a party to an offence. In the cases of
Azumah v. R (10, 50) 13 WACA 87, the court said “mere presence is not
enough, a person must be purposely facilitating or aiding the
commission of a crime by his presence before he can be regarded as an
accomplice”.

Thus, a man can only be liable as a party if he is present and

intentionally does an act which, in law, can be regarded as a facilitation
of the crime.

An interesting issue which calls for an examination is what will be the

situation where all the parties are caught and at the trial, some are
acquitted, by the court. In order to properly examine the above, it is
suitable to take a look at the case of R. v. Okagbue (1958) 13 FSC 27,
the facts of which is that three accused persons were found not guilty by
the court, the third accused person was convicted for aiding them. The
Federal Supreme Court allowed the appeal of the third accused person,
who was convicted by the court below. The appellate court relied on the
earlier English case of R. v. Rowley (1948) 1 All ER 570. In the said
English case (Rowley), the court of Criminal Appeal said that “It would
be absurd to say that he (appellant) assisted and comforted persons, who
he knew, committed a felony.

The law as expounded above illustrates the fact that the aider can only
be convicted if the named principal is also convicted but if the principal
is not named, the aider cannot be convicted on the basis that the
principal is not known and is said to be at large.
It is worthy to mention that because of immaturity contained in S. 30 of
the Criminal Code, if a person is not criminally responsible and aided to
commit an offence, it is good law to say that, no offence has been
committed and S. 7 of the Criminal Code cannot apply:

S. 8: Offences Committed in Prosecution of Common Purpose

The Criminal Code provides that when two or more persons form a
common intention to prosecute an unlawful purpose in conjunction with
one another and in prosecution of such purpose an offence is committed

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of such a nature that its commission was a probable consequence of the

prosecution of such purpose, each of them is deemed to have committed
the offence see Alagba & Org. v. The King (1950) 19NLR 124, and R. v.
Atanyi (1955) 15 WACA 34.

Proof of Common Intention

Common intention is to be distinguished from common object: it may be

inferred from circumstance disclosed in the evidence, and need not be
express agreement, but a presumption of a common intention should not
be too readily applied see R. v. Offor and Offor (1955) 15 WACA 4;
Mohan v. R [1967] 2 AC 187. In the case above two persons were
charged jointly with murder, it was established that each had struck the
deceased a violent blow with intent, at least to cause grievous bodily
harm and also established which blow had, infact, caused death, but the
evidence was open to the construction that the intention of each accused
was suddenly formed and formed independently of each other, it was
held that the judge’s failure to give himself a proper direction expressly
as to the common intention invalidated the conviction of the appellant
who struck the blow which did not cause death and a conviction against
that appellant of attempt murder was substituted for one of murder.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

Will it be proper in law to convict a person who was merely present at

the scene of the crime but did nothing to facilitate the commission of the
crime?

Section 7(d) of the cc

Section 7(d) of the Criminal Code provides for any person who counsels
or procures any other person to commit the offence.

Here, apart from proof of intention on the part of the procurer and
counsellor, words alone will be adequate for criminal liability. The
words of couselling or procuring must involve some positive act of
encouragement to those who actually committed the offence.
The law is that, tacit acquiescence or ordinary words amounting to a
mere permission, are not enough to amount to counseling. See
Idika v. R (1959) 4 FSC 106.

Again if an accused person has counseled or procured the commission

of an offence, it does not matter if he was not physically present at the
commission of the offence by his confederates and that it was
committed on a day different from the one he contemplated.

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The question to be asked and answered here is what happens where the
police set a trap for animals.

The court however accepts the strategy, whereby the police set a trap for
criminals as a way of arresting them and facilitating the administration
of criminal law. Under the circumstance, the initiative to commit the
crime must come from the criminal and the police following that
initiative, sets up the trap in order to ensnare the criminal and then tame
the tide of crime to the society.

3.3 Liability as an Accessory after the Fact

Section 10 of the Criminal code provides for the above and states that
any person who receives or assists another, who is to, his knowledge
guilty of an offence, in order to enable him to escape punishment is said
to become an accessory after the fact to that offence.

The punishment attached to an accessory is less in terms of gravity to

that attached to the actual offender. For example, while the principal
offender is liable to full punishment for the actual or real offences, the
punishment of an accessory after the fact is normally lesser, also in
terms of gravity. The distinction is that if the substantive offence
committed is a felony, two years maximum imprisonment will be
imposed on the accessory but if the substantive offence is a
misdemeanour or a simple offence, the punishment attached to an
accessory is one half (1½) of the punishment for the substantive offence.

The acts reus for the offence of an accessory is the receipt or the
assistance given to the suspect after he has allegedly committed an
offence and the offender now runs away for protection. A monetary
reception of the suspect by the accessory will be enough in the eyes of
the law provided by accessory knows that; the person received or
assisted committed the offence.

3.4 Limitation to Liability as an Accessory

Section 10 of the Criminal Code applies, to all manner of offences

however criminalized and whether contained in the code or any other
enactments.

A closer look at the second limb of section 10 of the criminal code

shows that a wife is not an accessory if she assists her husband to escape
punishment and the husband is not similarly liable for assisting his wife

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because of emotions such as love, fear or compassion may galvanize or

rouse either of them into such help or assistance.

In institutionalizing this limitation, the code therein in section singled

out a husband and wife of a Christian marriage for favour or protection
and discriminates against other forms of marriages however well
contracted and well intentioned.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

Why has the law treated every other type of marriage, except Christian
marriage, with total disfavour within the, meaning of section 10 of the
Criminal Code.

3.5 The Mental Element of Principal Offenders

A man can lonely be liable for an act or omission which occurs

dependently of the exercise of his will and cannot be liable for any act or
omission which occurs independently of exercise of his will. He cannot
be liable for the act of another person unless he has willed those acts.

For further reading see section 25 of the Criminal Code and the
Queensland case of R. v. Solomon (1959) Qd. R 123.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit we were able to demonstrate abundantly that a party to an

offence is a person whose conduct the circumstances in which it takes
place (including where relevant, a particular description with which he
as a person must according to the definition of the offence, comply) and
the culpability with which it is carried out are such that he satisfies all
the requirements for liability contained in the definition of the offence.
Or if, although his own conduct doesn’t comply with that required in the
definition of the crime, he acted together with one or more persons and
the conduct required for a conviction is imputed to him by virtue of the
principles relating to the doctrine of common purpose.

5.0 SUMMARY

There are four types of Principal offenders as can be seen in

section 7 of the Criminal Code
Their unique role in a given crime determines the class in which
they belong.
That, mere presence at the venue of the crime does not make a
person a principal offender unless he does some thing to facilitate
the commission of the offence.

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That, it is lawful for the police to set a trap in order to ensnare a

criminal and the police officer must not be a party to the crime.
That a person who receives another who has committed an
offence and ran away from justice and having knowledge that the
other person has committed the offence for which he is wanted, is
an accessory to the fact of the main or actual offence.
That protection has been given by the code to spouses of
Christian marriage who have assisted either their husbands or
wives to escape punishment after the commission of an offence.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Is the word “guilty” as used in the first limb of section 10 of the

criminal code the proper word for that section?
2. If, I slap a man in a manner not justified by law, I have
committed the offence of criminal assault but in what class of an
offender can I be classified?
3. Does the act of a police officer on road block in a highway who
collects N50.00 notes for his personal use forma commercial
driver who has no vehicle particulars at all a police trap in the
eyes of the law?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Smith & Hogan Criminal Law.

Glanville Williams Textbook of Criminal Law.

UNIT 7 STEALING

This unit will introduce you to stealing as a topic in criminal law. You
will learn what stealing is, how it is different from other subjects in
criminal law.

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction

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2.0 Objective
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Definition
3.2 Taking
3.3 Converting
3.4 Specific Intents in Stealing
3.5 Things Capable of being Stolen
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

To steal is both morally reprehensible and criminally wrong. The

offence of stealing is contained in the criminal and penal codes. From
the way it is constituted, stealing can manifest in various acts and such
acts have been spelt out elaborately in this work.

2.0 OBJECTIVE

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

expressly state which acts constitute the offence of stealing and

which acts do not.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Definition

Ordinarily, stealing means the wrongful taking away of the goods of

another. It could also mean to take away dishonestly or wrongfully
especially secretly.

Stealing is defined in the Criminal Code thus: “a person who

fraudulently takes anything capable of being stolen or fraudulently
converts to his own use or to the use of any person anything capable of
being stolen, is said to steal that thing”. See section 383 (1) of the
criminal code. Certain key words like “taking” and “converting” are
critical in the discussion of the offence of stealing.

3.2 Taking
For there to be taking in the eyes of the law, the thing must be moved or
caused to be moved. See section 383 (6) of the Criminal Code. There
are two known types of taking: The first one is actual taking, which

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occurs when a person comes into physical or bodily possession of the

property. The second is where someone else is caused to take it on your
behalf. Under the second category of taking, there must be control over
the person doing the taking by the principal.

3.3 Converting
Conversion is not defined in the Criminal Code. According to the
renowned authors, Okonkwo and Naish, in their book, Criminal Law in
Nigeria, the definition of conversion is to be and should be taken from
the area of torts. Thus, in the all-important case of Lancashire Railway
Company v. Macnicol (1919) 88LJKB 601 and 605, conversion was
looked at as a dealing with goods in a manner inconsistent with the
rights of the true owner, provided that it is also established that it is also
an intention on the part of the defendant, in so doing to deny the owner’s
right or to assert a right which is inconsistent with the owner’s right.
See also Street on Torts at page 44, as well as the view, as well as the
view of the court in the case of Mills v. Broker (1919) 1 KB 555. If we
therefore relate the above definition to the subject at hand, it is fitting to
say that for conversion to amount to stealing, it must be done with one
of the fraudulent intents provided in section 383 (2) of the Criminal
Code.

With a view to deciding whether a conversion is fraudulent, Section 383

(4) of the Criminal Code provides that it is immaterial that the person
converting had an innocent possession of that property or that he held a
power of attorney for its disposition or was otherwise authorized to
dispose of the property.

3.4 Specific Intents in Stealing

Six intents have been criminalized by section 383 (2) of the criminal
code and to the analysis of these intents, we now turn:

1. Section 383 (2) (a) of criminal code provides for an intent

permanently to deprive the owner of the thing, of it. Here, the law
emphasizes permanent deprivation and not temporary deprivation.
See the unreported case of State v. Otaru in charge No. U/6C/67 decided
in Midwest High Court.
The law does not regard as amounting to stealing where there is a
conditional taking with intent to keep only of the goods that are
valuable. The case of R. v. Easom (1971) 2 All ER 945 is important
here. We are of the opinion that if a conditional taking does not amount
to stealing as we have seen in the case of Easom, it could pass section 4
of the criminal code.

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There is stealing where the accused fraudulently deceives the owner of

goods to buy such goods which already belong to him or to which he
already has a valid title. See the case of R. v. Hall (1894) 2 C 947.
Motive of gain is not important or central in order to determine whether
a permanent deprivation is fraudulent. See R. v. Cabbage (1815) R&S
292.

2. Next is section 383 (2) (b) of the Criminal Code, which provides
for an intent permanently to deprive any person who has any
special property in the thing of such property. According to the
code, the phrase “special property” as contained herein includes
any charge or lien upon the thing in question, and any right
arising from or dependent upon holding possession of the thing in
question whether by the person entitled to such right or by some
other person for his benefit. This limb of section 384 (2)(b) is
designed to protect the right of a person who is not the owner of
the property but has some special interest in the thing he must
have power to exercise physical control over that thing.
Therefore, if you are a finder of a lost property or goods or a
pledge of goods, the law recognizes you as having special
property in the article.

3. The third is contained in section 383 (2) (c) of the Criminal Code
and it deals with an intent to use the things as a pledge or
security. The general rule is that a person who is not the owner
of a property and who pledges that property to another as a
security has committed the offence of stealing. To every general
rule, the law recognizes exception(s). The exception here is in
the case of extreme necessity and on condition that he would
retrieve such goods almost immediately, but unfortunately, is
unable to do so. Here, the law will not regard that, as the offence
of stealing because intention which is an essential ingredient is
considered lacking.

4. Section 383 (2) (d) deals with intent to part with it on a condition
as to its return which the person taking or converting it may be
unable to return.

Here, the accused takes one’s property for a transaction but loses
such property in the cause of such transaction and therefore is
unable to such property to the owner.

5. The intent here revolves round dealing with one’s property in

such a manner that it cannot be returned in the condition in which
it was at the time of taking or conversion. The point of note here
is that the thing taken or converted cannot be returned by the

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accused in substantially the same condition. The facts of any

similar case will be of great assistance. This was decided in the
case of R. v. Bailey 1924 QWN 38.

6. The last intent is set out in section 383 (2) (f) of the Criminal
Code and it states thus: in the case of money, an intent to use it at
the will of the person who takes or converts it, although he may
intend afterwards to repay the amount to the owner. The law
contained in section 383 (2) (f) of the criminal code was the basis
of court’s decision in the case of R. v. Orizu (1954) 14 WACA.
In that case, the court held that accused liable for offence of
stealing and convicted him accordingly.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

Mention six intents criminalized in the code which would make taking
or conversion fraudulent and therefore criminal in the eye of the law.

3.5 Things Capable of Being Stolen

For one to be convicted of having stolen anything, such a thing must be

one capable of being stolen. It then follows that it is not everything
which is capable of being stolen. Section 383 of the criminal code
relates to the issue of things capable of being stolen. From that section,
it is obvious that things that are inanimate which are the property of any
person and which are movable, are things capable of being stolen.

In law, there are certain things which are not capable of being stolen.
Such things are land and property not owned by anybody. The common
law position is that, a corpse is not capable of being stolen. But the law
has been developed to the effect that if a corpse possesses peculiar
attributes as to justify its preservation on scientific or other grounds and
some work of skill have been performed on such corpse, and it is an
unlawful possession of a person or authority, it may amount to stealing
if such a corpse is disposed of in a manner constituting the offence of
stealing.

4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit, we demonstrated that for a property to be capable of being
stolen, it must be:

Belong to somebody else

Moveable
Corporeal

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In order for the act to be unlawful, the act of stealing must take place
without the permission of the person who has a right to possess it.

In the unit, we demonstrated that to have the intention required for theft
it must relate to the act, the nature of property, and to the unlawfulness.
Further more, the intention must be to permanently deprive the person
entitled to the possession of the property.

5.0 SUMMARY
Stealing is an offence which when committed, attracts punishment,
as contained in the code.
It is not every act of the accused that constitutes the offence of
stealing.
For an act to be regarded as stealing, it must be accompanied by any
of the specific intents contemplated in section 383 (2) (a)-(f) of the
code.
It is not everything that is capable of being stolen; for example, land
and ownerless properties cannot be stolen.
The things stolen must be moved to the slightest degree with the
intent of permanently depriving the owner of the use of such things
or with any of the specified intents.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Can a person who has entered my plot of land located at Abuja
metropolis without my permission and plucked an orange from
an orange tree planted on the land charged with the offence of
stealing?

2. If, as my intimate friend, I give you money to deliver to my

mother at the village but you use the money to pay your school
fees and now cannot refund it to me upon demand, have you
committed a criminal offence in the eyes of the law?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan: Spectrum

Law Publishing.

Karibi-Whyte, A.G. (1993). History and Sources of Nigerian Criminal

Law. Ibadan: Spectrum Law Publishing.

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Williams, G. (1982). Learning the Law. London: Stevens and Sons.

UNIT 8 OBTAINING BY FALSE PRETENCE

In this unit, you will know that obtaining by false pretences is a felony
whose main ingredient is intent to defraud and is geared towards
anything capable of being stolen. This unit is patterned as follows:

CONTENTS

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1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Definition
3.2 Obtaining
3.3 The Pretence
3.4 Past and Present Matter
3.5 Falsity of the Pretence
3.6 Intent to Defraud
3.7 Effect of Pretence
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The offence of obtaining by false pretences is commonplace to the

extent that it is gaining increasing notoriety in Nigeria. The offence is
so widespread that governments at all levels are doing everything
possible by way of legislation to check its wanton occurrence.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

What this unit seeks to achieve is for you to appreciate the ingredients of
the offence of false pretence. This will enable you to have a firm
grounding on the topic and also widen your intellectual frontiers within
the greater regime of criminal law. The high incidence of the offence
and the negative image it has given Nigeria in the international scene
makes it imperative for you to be systematically instructed on it.

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

expressly state what false pretense is.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Definition

Obtaining property by false pretence is committed when a person by any

false pretence, and with intent to defraud, obtains from any other person
anything capable of being stolen or induces any other person to deliver
to any person anything capable of being stolen. The punishment for

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obtaining by false pretences and the offence itself are contained in

section 419 of the Criminal Code.

It does not matter that the thing is obtained or its delivery induced
through the medium of a contract induced by false pretence. The
offender cannot be arrested without warrant, unless found in the very act
of committing the offence.

3.2 Obtaining

For “obtaining” to take place, one must induce the owner of the property
to transfer his/her whole interest in the property. The usual distinction
which must be drawn is between “possession” and “ownership”. Thus if
by an act of any accused person possession only is transferred, then the
proper offence is stealing. If, however, both possession and ownership
are transferred, then the proper offence is obtaining by false pretence –
see Akosa v. Commissioner of Police (1950) 13 WACA 43.

Okonkwo and Naish submit that on the principle of Oshin (Supra), the
case of State v. Osuafor (1972) 2 FCSLR 412, in which accused was
convicted of obtaining by false pretence, was wrongly decided. They
submit that the proper offence in Osuafor’s case was stealing because
only possession was obtained by the accused.

The learned authors also submit that the case of Abasi v. COP (1965)
NWLR 461 was wrongly decided because the offence committed was
obtaining by false pretence and not stealing as was held by the court
because both possession and ownership were involved.

The practice known as money doubling is offence of obtaining money

by false pretence. See R. v. Adegboyega (1973) 3 WACA, 199.
Compare this case with section 385 of the Criminal Code, which deals
with fund under direction. If only a bailment of property is obtained,
false pretence is not committed.

Illustration

If A by false pretence obtains the hire of B’s bicycle for a day and
returns but does not pay the hire charge, this is not obtaining of the
bicycle by false pretence because what A obtains was only a ride on the
bicycle (possession) and not B’s entire interest (ownership) of it.

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Furthermore, in R. v. Kilham (1870) 1 CCR 261, K obtained hire of a

horse by false pretence, returned the horse without paying the cost of the
hire. It was held that K’s conduct did not amount to obtaining by false
pretence. See also the case of R. v. Boulton 1 Den. 508 and R. v.
Chapman (1910) 4 Cr. App R 276.

If a person obtains a loan of money by false pretence even though he

intends to repay it, the offence of obtaining by false pretence will lie
against the offender or the accused because ownership in the particular
money lent has passed to him. See R. v. Ogbanna (1941) 7 WACA 139.
The property (ownership) in the goods must be obtained from the
general owner or from someone who has power to pass the property.
See R. v. Ball (1951) 2 KB 129. If the accused by false pretence obtains
property from a bailee with intent to deprive the owner permanently, this
is stealing.

The owner of land has special property (interest) in things found on his
land and same is applicable to a finder of lost articles. It may be false
pretence to induce them to give out their entire interest in such goods or
articles.

If a customer pays a forged cheque into a bank account and the bank
makes an entry crediting him with the amount on the cheque, he is not
guilty of obtaining money from the bank by false pretence and this
offence can only crystallize when the bank actually hands over or pays
the money to the customer, irrespective of how much it credited in
favour of the customer in his account because property in the money still
resides with the bank.

The offence under discussion cannot be examined properly without the

expression “inducing deliver”. There is therefore, a great chasm between
“obtaining and inducing deliver”. Obtaining means obtaining for oneself
and inducing delivery covers a situation whereby A induces B to deliver
to himself to C.

Inducing delivery in the crime of false pretence means inducing delivery

of ownership and if there is merely a delivery of possession of accused
that will amount to stealing.

3.3 The Pretence

A pretence is any representation which can manifest by words, writing

or conduct, of a matter of fact, either past or present, which
representation is false in fact and which the person making it knows to
be false or does not believe to be true. It is important to note however

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that a pretence can be inferred from the conduct of the accused and
circumstance of the case.

3.4 Past and Present Matter

The representation must refer to a matter of fact either past or present. If

it relates only to a future matter, the offence of obtaining by false
pretence is not committed. Thus in Achonre v. Inspector General of
Police (1958) 3 FSC 30, it was held that the accused was not guilty of
obtaining money by false pretence because the representation related
only to a future matter. Inneh v. Commissioner of Police (1959)
WRNLR 204, it was held that the giving of a post dated cheque implies
a future representation.

But if the drawer has no account at all at the bank, then there is a false
representation on an existing fact. If the false representation consists
partly of a statement of a past or present matter and partly of a statement
relating to the future, an offence is committed by false pretence,
provided the former statement is a material contributory factor inducing
the representee to part with his property.

In the English case of R. v. Jennison (1862) L & C 157, the accused, a

married man, represented himself as being single and induced a girl to
give him money promising that he would use the money to furnish a
house and thereafter marry her. He was convicted of obtaining money
by false pretence. In the above case, although there was a future
promise, yet the statement that the accused was single related to an
existing fact and was an important factor which induced the girl to part
with her money.

Sometimes a promise to do something in the future may involve a false

pretence that the promisor has the present means and ability to do that
thing. If this is so, then there is representation of an existing fact. See
R. v. Dent (1955) 2 ALL ER 806.

3.5 Falsity of the Pretence

The law is that the pretence must not only be false but it must be false to
the knowledge of the maker, or at least, he must not believe it to be true.
If the accused honestly believes in the truth of the statement which
unfortunately turns out not to be so, this is no false pretence but merely
an expression of opinion. It is only a statement of fact that cannot,
which in law constitute a false pretence.

Illustration

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If a butcher represents the meat he sells as the best in the market and it
turns out to be so, this is no false pretence but merely an expression of
opinion. But if a trader knowingly makes a false statement of fact
concerning his product, that is false pretence in the eyes of the law. The
prosecution has a heavy burden of proving the falsity of the pretence and
if the pretence is shown to be false, it is no defence that the person
defrauded, parted with his property in order that it might be put to an
unlawful purpose.

3.6 Intent to Defraud

There must be intent on the part of the accused to defraud, though it is

not necessary to allege an intent to defraud any particular person. An
intent to defraud is an intent to induce another by deceit, to act to his
detriment or contrary to what would otherwise be his duty and it is
immaterial that there is no intention to cause pecuniary or economic
loss. See the case of Welhem v. DPP (1961) AC 103. Thus if A obtains
money from B by false pretence, the intent to defraud is not negative by
showing that the money so obtained is nothing more than a suitable
reward for the services rendered by A to B. See the cases of R. v.
Anijoloja (1936) 13 NLR 85 and R. v. Abuah (1961) All NLR 635.

3.7 Effect of Pretence

The law is that the pretence must have induced the owner to part with
his goods. It must be shown clearly that the alleged false representation
weighed on the mind of the representee and therefore made him to part
with the goods. If the representations consist of variety of statements
wherein one of such statements is false, by the authority of
R. v. Jenisson (1862) L & C 157, the representee will be guilty if that
false statement is an effective cause of the transfer of ownership.

Where there is no express request for the transfer of ownership, the

pretence may be implied from the conduct of the accused. If the person
to whom the false pretence or representation is made is aware that the
said representation by the accused is false or where he is not deceived
by it, but nevertheless, he parts with his property, the offence of
obtaining by false pretence is not committed. At most, the accused may
be convicted of attempting to obtain by false pretence. See Omotosho v.
Police (1961) 1 All NLR 693.

4.0 CONCLUSION

We discussed S. 419 of the Criminal Code, which is obtaining under

false pretence which is the unlawful and intentional making of a

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misrepresentation which causes actual prejudice or which is potentially

prejudicial. The effort here is to show that there are differences in the
content of the offence of stealing and obtaining by false pretence.

5.0 SUMMARY

This offence is committed with false pretence.

The owner of the thing or property must transfer his whole interest in
the property to the accused.
Obtaining by false pretences is different from stealing.
The false pretence can manifest by words, writing or conduct.
The representation must refer to a matter of fact either past or
present.
There must be intention to defraud.
The effect of pretence is that it must have induced the owner to part
with the goods.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Mr. A recently converted a warehouse belonging to him into his

residence and resides there. At about 7p.m yesterday, Mr. B
broke and entered the said warehouse with intention to steal and
broke out this morning by 4.30a.m. What crime has Mr. B
committed?
2. How can you distinguish the offence of obtaining by false
pretence from stealing?
3. When can you say that a pretence is false and that there is intent
to defraud?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Smith & Hogan Criminal Law.

Glanville Williams Textbook of Criminal Law.

MODULE 2

Unit 1 Receiving Stolen Goods

Unit 2 Burglary and House Breaking
Unit 3 Treason
Unit 4 The Offence of Rape
Unit 5 Theories and Types of Punishment

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Unit 6 General Principles of Sentencing

Unit 7 The Police and the Administration of Criminal Justice

UNIT 1 RECEIVING STOLEN GOODS

This unit is premised on the fact that a person who receives any stolen
goods has committed an offence known as receiving stolen goods. The
commission of this offence pre-supposes the fact that there is already in
existence stolen goods before such goods are received which results in
the offence under discussion. This unit is arranged as follows:

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Elements of the Offence
3.2 Receiving Dishonestly
3.3 Property Received
3.4 Element of Guilty Knowledge
3.5 Stolen Property Converted into other Property
3.6 Being in Possession of Goods Reasonably Suspected to
have been Stolen.
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The offence of stealing cannot be discussed properly without a follow

up discussion on the offence of receiving stolen goods. The law here is
that the goods received must first have been stolen before they are
received with the knowledge that they are stolen goods.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this topic is to lead you, by way of teaching, into the
realm of stealing as an offence and thereafter lay bare to you the offence
of receiving stolen goods which cannot be committed in law unless
stealing occurs first. At the end of this lecture, you will have a sound
knowledge of the law regarding the subject matter.

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At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

state and explain the law that relates to receiving stolen goods.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Elements of the Offence

The statutory provision for this offence is contained in 427 of the
criminal code. In order to sustain the offence of receiving stolen goods,
there are two basic elements that must be proved:

a. There must be receiving, and

b. The goods must have been stolen.

To prove receiving, it is sufficient to show that the accused has either

alone or jointly with some other person had the thing in his possession
or has aided in concealing it or disposing of it. For this, see the 4th limb
of section 427 of the criminal code.

Assuming, there is no aiding to conceal the property, for the accused to

be connected, or convicted, it must be shown that he had the property in
his possession. Possession can either be actual or constructive. Actual
possession means being in physical possession of property, while
constructive possession means holding it through a servant or other
agent(s). The principal must have control over the property (thus
excluding section 24). In other words, there must be control over the
movement of the property.

See the case of Olujomoye v. R (1963) 3 WACA 71. This case deals
with the elements of control. The accused must have control over the
movement of the property. The case also deals with a joint possession
between the receiver and the thief.

Where the receiver pays for the goods but the thief agrees to keep the
goods, it is said in law that the receiver has constructive possession
while the thief has physical or actual possession. If the thief has
exclusive possession, the receiver cannot be said to have possession and
thus cannot be charged for receiving. See R. v. Osakwe (1963). There
are situations where the thief can also be charged with receiving the
same goods alleged to be stolen by him within the context of the
provisions of section 7 of the criminal code. See R. v. Saliba (1973)
QDR 142.

3.2 Receiving Dishonestly

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It is not sufficient to just receive, the accused must receive with

dishonest intent i.e. the receiver knows that the goods have been stolen
and intended to appropriate it to his own use or to the use of any person
other than the owner. Okonkwo and Naish, in their book on Criminal
Law, have agreed that this aspect of receiving dishonestly is not stated
in section 427 of the criminal code but that it is implied in it. They
support their argument with the English case of R. v. Matthews (1980) 1
All ER 137 at 138 per Lord Goddard.

3.3 Property Received

The property received must have been stolen or obtained by means of an

act constituting or amounting to a felony or misdemeanour. A spouse of
a Christian marriage cannot steal property belonging to her husband.
Thus another person cannot be guilty of receiving from her. See R. v.
Geamet (1919) 1 KB 564. Also a person cannot be charged with
receiving a property purportedly stolen by a child of 7 years. See
Walter v. Lint (1951) 2 All GR 645. See section 30 of the criminal code.
It is note worthy that it is not sufficient to show that the goods have been
previously stolen, they must continue to be stolen goods at the time the
accused person received them, and therefore the goods would cease to
be stolen goods as soon as they are recaptured by the owner or by the
police on his behalf. Any person who receives it thereafter is not guilty
of receiving stolen goods. See R. v. Villensky (1892) 2 QB 597 and R. v.
King (1938) 2 All ER 622.

Section 429 of criminal code provides that if a stolen property passes to

another person who acquires a lawful title, subsequent receiving of the
goods will not amount to receiving stolen goods. A lawful title may be
acquired by limitation or through a sale in market overt. Where a
property is acquired from a market overt and the thief is convicted, the
title in property reverts to the true owner.

3.4 Element of Guilty Knowledge

The prosecution must prove that at the time of receiving the goods, the
accused knew that they were stolen or obtained by means of an act
constituting a felony or misdemeanour. Guilty knowledge may be
proved directly by way of confession or in any of the following ways:
1. By lies told by the accused person.
2. By any suspicious circumstance surrounding the transaction. For
example, if the goods were sold secretly in the night or they are
sold by a person who ordinarily would not have been in a
position to sell them. Reference may be made here to the case of
Lawani v. Police (1952) 20 NRL 87 or if they were sold at a price
fixed by the person receiving, see R. v. Braimah (1943) WACA

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197, or at a very low price, see Gfeller v. R. (1942) 9 WACA 12

(PC).

In view of section 47 of the Evidence Act, if a person is standing trial

for receiving any property, known to have been stolen or for having in
his possession, stolen property, in order to prove guilty knowledge,
evidence will be led at any stage of the proceeding to show the
following:

a. The fact that other property stolen, within the period of 12

months preceding the date of the offence charged, was found or
had been in his possession.

b. The fact that within 5 years preceding the date of offence

charged, he was convicted of any offence involving fraud or
dishonesty.

Before leading evidence on (b) above against the accused, the

prosecution must:

i. Give seven days notice in writing to the accused, stating therein

that the proof of such previous conviction is intended to be given
at the trial and

ii. Evidence has been given that the property in respect of which the
offender is being tried was found or had been found in his
possession.

It should be borne in mind that (ii) above is intended to be used as proof

of guilty knowledge and not the fact of receipt.

Under the doctrine of recent possession as contained in section 149 of

the Evidence Act, the court may presume that a man who is in
possession of stolen goods soon after the theft is either the thief or he
received the goods knowing them to be stolen, unless he can account for
his possession. The doctrine of recent possession is not an evidence
shifting device. The burden of proving guilty knowledge always
remains on the prosecution and this doctrine does not operate to shift the
burden of proof onto the accused. If the prosecution cannot prove its
case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the accused is
entitled to acquittal.

What amounts to recent possession in respect of the doctrine, depends

on the circumstance of each case and the nature of goods. See the case
State v. Aiyeola (1969) 1 All NLR 303. There is therefore no hard and

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fast rule associated with it. See the case of R. v. Iyakwe (1944) 1
WACA 180.

3.5 Stolen Property into Another’s Property

Under Nigerian law, if a stolen property is converted into another’s

property, then the accused cannot be guilty of receiving stolen goods.
Thus if A steals a sum of money and offers it to B who knowingly
receives it, B is guilty of receiving stolen property. But the reverse will
be the case if A uses the money to buy a television set and B receives it
knowingly; in that case, B is not guilty of the offence of receiving stolen
goods; the television set is not a stolen good. The money which is the
stolen property has been converted into another property, i.e. television
set.

On a comparative basis, in England, the law is that B in the above

illustration, will be guilty of receiving stolen property even if the
original goods (money) have been converted into the present goods
received (television set). The same position applies in Australia
(Queensland).

3.6 Being in Possession of Goods Reasonably Suspected to

have been Stolen

This offence is criminalized in section 430 (1) of the criminal code and
it states that any person who is charged before any court with having in
his possession or under his control in any manner or in any place or that
he at any time within three moths immediately preceding the making of
the complaint, anything which is reasonably suspected of having been
stolen or unlawfully obtained and he does not give an account to the
satisfaction of the court as to how he came by the same, is guilty of an
offence. One may quickly add here that section 430 (1) of the criminal
code is designed to cover cases where at the time of arrest, the police
cannot show that the goods were stolen but they reasonably suspect
them to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained, it does not apply to any
case where the goods are known to have been stolen and the owner is
traced. See the case of Oguntolu v. Police (1953) 20 NLR 128. The
suspicion expected from the prosecution is that of a reasonable man,
warranted by facts from which inferences can be drawn: Boulos v. R
(1954) 14 WACA 543.
As a result of the tendency by the police to abuse the provision of
section 430(1) of the criminal code, it has been held that in order to
avoid the visitation of hardship and mischief on innocent persons, its
application should be done with the greatest caution in order to bring
about the real intendment of the section. See case of R. v. Ayanshina
(1951) 13 WACA 260.

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4.0 CONCLUSION

The correct, complete name of this crime is “receiving stolen goods

knowing it to have been stolen.” We showed in this unit that a person
who commits this crime renders himself, at the same time, guilty of
being an accessory after the fact to theft. You should understand that
the crime can be committed only in respect of property that is capable of
being stolen. For one to be liable for this offence, he must know that the
property is stolen, or he must foresee the possibility that it may be stolen
and reconcile himself to such possibility.

5.0 SUMMARY

The offence of receiving stolen goods is closely associated with

the offence of stealing: first, the goods alleged to have been
received must first be shown to have been stolen or illegally
obtained. Secondly, the goods must be sold and received not in a
proper place (market overt) but secretly and sometimes at a
derisive price.
The receipt of the stolen goods must be done dishonestly.
Guilty knowledge could be proved by way of lies told by the
accused person and by suspicious circumstances surrounding the
transaction
Section 430 (1) of the criminal code relating to being in
possession of goods reasonably suspected to have been stolen
should be treated with considerable caution.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. What do you understand by the doctrine of recent possession

2. Assuming you are the prosecution in a case of receiving stolen
goods, how would you prove guilty knowledge in order to secure
the conviction of the accused person?
3. The learned authors Okonkwo and Naish are of the opinion that
section 430 (1) of the criminal code should be relied upon the
police with caution. Do you agree?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Smith & Hogan Criminal Law.

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Glanville Williams Textbook of Criminal Law.

UNIT 2 BURGLARY AND HOUSE BREAKING

This unit attempts to groom you on the offences of burglary and house
breaking. The unit is sub-divided as follows:

CONTENTS

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1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objective
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Background
3.2 Breaking
3.3 Entering
3.4 Intent
3.5 Dwelling House
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The content in this unit is predicated on two offences: burglary and
house breaking. The time in which the act is done determines whether
the offence is burglary or house breaking. Burglary is committed at
night while house breaking occurs in the day time.

2.0 OBJECTIVE
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

present the essential elements of the offences of burglary and house

breaking.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Background

The offences of burglary and house breaking are contained in sections

410-417 of the Criminal Code. Section 411 says that any person who
breaks and enters the dwelling house of another with intent to commit a
felony therein or having entered the dwelling house of another with
intent to commit a felony therein or having committed a felony in the
dwelling house of another, breaks out of the dwelling house is guilty of
felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.

If the offence is committed at night, it is called burglary and the offender

is liable to imprisonment for life. Furthermore, section 412 of the
Criminal Code provides for the offence of ‘Entering dwelling-house’
with intent to commit felony. It says that “any person who enters or is
in the dwelling-house of another with intent to commit a felony therein
is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years. If the
offence is committed in the night, the offender is liable to imprisonment

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for fourteen years. Time is the major determining factor in

distinguishing between the offence of burglary and house breaking.
Section 1 of the Criminal Code defines “night time” as meaning the
interval between 6.30p.m and 6.30a.m. Burglary is committed in the
night (that is, between 6.30p.m and 6.30a.m) while house breaking is
committed in the day time (i.e. between 6.30a.m and 6.30p.m).

3.2 Breaking

If breaking is in the day time and entry is at night or vice versa, the
offence is not burglary. Also breaking and entry need not necessarily
occur in the same night. See the English case of R. v. Smith. In that
case, breaking was on a Friday night and entry on Saturday night. But a
question would arise where the accused person’s time piece is defective.
It is submitted that the accused would be liable to the extent of mistake.
See section 25 of the Criminal Code.

By section 411(2) it is burglary if “any person who having entered the

dwelling-house of another with intent to commit a felony therein, or
having committed a felony in the dwelling-house of another breaks out
of the dwelling-house”.

Thus provision of the Code contemplates a situation where a person

enters a dwelling house with a license or permission and without intent
to steal but later finds something attractive, and steals it and then breaks
out. The time of breaking out would determine whether the offence is
house breaking or burglary. It contemplates also a situation where
breaking in with intent to commit a felony was involved.

Breaking may be actual breaking or constructive breaking.

Actual Breaking

It amounts to actual breaking, when a person who breaks any part,

whether external or internal, of a building or opens by unlocking,
pulling, pushing, hitting or any other means whatever, any door,
window, shutter, cellar flap or other thing, intended to close or cover an
opening in a building or an opening giving passage from one part of a
building to another.
Constructive Breaking

He/she breaks in “who obtains entrance into a building by means of any

threat or artifice used for that purpose or by collusion with any person in
the building or who enters any chimney or other aperture of the building
permanently left open for any necessary purpose, but not intended to be

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

ordinarily used as a means of entrance”. See section 410 and the case of
R. v. Boyle (1954) 2QB 292.

Thus, if an accused, by deception poses as a sanitary inspector and

enters into a dwelling-house in order to commit a felony and the owner
of the house knows of his criminal intent, but allows him in, in order to
trap him, there is no breaking in the eyes of the law. But see the case of
R. v. Chander (1913) 1 KB 125.

For the prosecution to ground a conviction for the offences of burglary

and house breaking against the accused person, breaking which is an
essential element or ingredient must be proved.

3.3 Entering

According to section 410 of the Criminal Code, “a person is said to enter

a building as soon as any part of his body or any part of any instrument
used by him is within the building”. Thus, the mere putting of limb or
stick or instrument inside the building (dwelling house) is enough to
constitute entry. Similarly, if in the process of opening, the accused
person’s hand or finger or key or object projects into the room, this
amounts to sufficient entry.

Under the common law, Smith and Hogan in their book Criminal Law at
p.583 argue that there is a distinction between insertion of a limb and the
insertion of an instrument. The learned authors contend that insertion of
limb for the purpose of breaking constitutes an entry while the insertion
of an instrument for the same purpose of breaking does not. They argue
that insertion of an instrument could only constitute entry if it was done
for the purpose of committing the ultimate felony in respect of which
accused intended to enter the dwelling house.

3.4 Intent

For the offences of burglary and house breaking to succeed, the intent to
commit a felony, (not necessarily stealing) must exist at the time of
breaking and entry. The felony contemplated here may be murder,
arson or rape, etc.

With respect to existence of intent at the time of breaking and entry, if

one night A, honestly believing that B’s house is on fire, breaks open a
front door in order to put out the fire and discovers that there is not fire,
but he is then tempted to steal and does in fact steal in the dwelling
house, he is not guilty of burglary, unless if after committing the felony
he breaks out through another part of the building.

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3.5 Dwelling House

Section 1 of the Criminal Code defines a dwelling house to include any

building or part of a building or structure which is for the time being
kept by owner or occupier for the residence therein of himself, his
family or servant, or any of them and it is immaterial that is from time to
time inhabited.

Also a building or structure adjacent to, and occupied with a dwelling

house is deemed to part of the dwelling house if there is a
communication between such building or structure and the dwelling
house either immediate or by means of covered and enclosed passage
leading from one room to the other but not otherwise. In order to
determine what constitute a dwelling house, the test is not what the
building or house is built for, but what it is used for.

Illustration

If a building was initially built as a warehouse but I now habitually sleep

in it and use it as my residence, it is a dwelling house. Provided,
therefore, that the building is a dwelling house, it does not matter that
the owner is temporarily away, may be on holidays or on a course
elsewhere.

In R. v. Rose (1965) QWN 35, the court held that a structure such as a
caravan which is kept by the occupier for the residence of himself is a
dwelling house. Similarly, in R. v. Halloran (1967) QWN 59 a motel
unit occupied by a lodger for a week was held to be dwelling house.

Section 413(1) of the Criminal Code provides for the offence of

breaking into other buildings and to commit a felony therein. For what
constitute other building, it is pertinent to note that school house, ship,
warehouse, office or counting house, etc, come within that meaning.
See section 413(2) of the Criminal Code. Section 313 of the Criminal
Code deals with building used as a place of worship. In this offence,
there must be: (1) breaking (2) entry and (3) commission of felony. In
the alternative, there may be no breaking but an entry, commission of a
felony and breaking out. See also section 416 of Criminal Code.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In the unit, you were made to understand that for the offence of house
breaking and burglary to be proved, the following elements of the crime
must be present:

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Breaking and entering A

building or structure
Unlawful and intentional

The element of time also has to be put into consideration in defining the
type of crime committed. The unit demonstrates for your understanding
the requirements for certain crimes against property by considering the
possible liability to an accused for the crime of house breaking and
burglary with intent to commit a crime.

5.0 SUMMARY

Burglary and house breaking are offences commonly committed

by criminals in our society.
Time of breaking in and breaking out of the premises determines
whether the offence committed is burglary or house breaking.
While breaking in, the intention of the accused must be to
commit a felony.
Breaking by the accused can be either actual or constructive
breaking.
Entering occurs whenever any part of the accused body or any
part of the instrument used by him projects into the building.
The offences are said to be committed in a dwelling house.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. If I break into a house with no intention of committing felony

therein, have I committed any offence? If so, why, if not so,
why?
2. How can you distinguish between the offences of house breaking
from burglary?
3. The purpose of a dwelling house is different from that which is
not. Discuss.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Obilade, T. A. Nigerian Legal System.

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Fakayode. Nigeria Criminal Code Companion.

Criminal Code Act 1990, cap 77 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

UNIT 3 TREASON
This unit is an attempt to analytically examine the offence of treason and
it will be treated against the backdrop of the following items:

CONTENTS

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1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Criminalization
3.2 Levying War
3.3 Treasonable Felonies
3.4 Limitation of Time
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Treason is a felony and it is committed against lawfully constituted
government of the State or the Federation of Nigeria.

It is committed when the accused does everything possible to ensure the

overthrow of a lawfully constituted government and begins to manifest
same by some over acts.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

show what constitutes the offence of treason

show when it can be said that a person has committed the offence of
treason or treasonable felonies
explain what amounts to, waging of war in the offence of treason.

MAIN CONTENT

Criminalisation
The offence of treason is contained in section 37(1) of the criminal code.
That section states that any person who levies/wages war against the
State in order to intimidate or overawe the President or the Governor of
a State, is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death.

Any person conspiring with another person, either within or without

Nigeria to levy war against the State with the intent to cause such
levying of war as would be treason if committed by a citizen of Nigeria,
is guilty of treason and is liable to the punishment of death. See section
37(2) of the Criminal Code.

In Enahoro v. R (1965) 1 All NLR 125, the court held that a conspiracy
to levy war against the State, which is treason under section 37(2) of the
Criminal Code should be charged under that section and not under

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section 516 which deals with conspiracies generally. This means that
section 37(2) was the appropriate section on which the accused could be
properly charged.

3.2 Levying War

In order to constitute a levying of war, it is not necessary that the

accused persons should be members of a military force or even trained
in the use of arms. The type of weapon used also is immaterial as the
smallness of the number of persons engaged in levying the war.

In R. v. Gallagher (1883) the court held that the phrase “Levying of

war” is general and descriptive. It was obvious that war might be levied
in different ways and by different ages of the world”.

The above dictum was cited with approval in the celebrated case of
R. v. Enahoro (1963) LL 91 at 312.

The war levied by the accused must be for a general and public purpose.
If it is done merely for a private purpose, the offence may be termed as a
riot. See R. v. Hardie (1821) 1 St. Tr 609.

The question now is whether upon a charge of treason under section

37(1) “it must be proved by the prosecution that the President or the
Governor was personally intimidated or overawed”. The Supreme Court
in rejecting this line of reasoning stated that there is no difference
between intimidating and overawing the State and doing the same to the
Head of State (President) for the President is the embodiment of the
State and to intimidate him is the same as intimidating the State. See R.
v. Boro (1966) 1 All NLR 266.

The decision of the apex court has been criticized on the ground that
having regard to the wordings of the offence of treason under section
37(1) of the Criminal Code, the prosecution must prove in addition to
other ingredients, that the President was personally intimidated and
overawed. For example, the State Nigeria is a different person from
whoever occupies the office of President. If the prosecution proves that
war has been levied against the State and that person has intimidated and
overawed the President, conviction will lie against the accused.
It seems plain that the above decision was predicated on policy with a
view to guarding against the untoward conduct of treason against the
State but was not based on the proper interpretation of section 37(1).

Under section 40, of the Criminal Code, any person who becomes an
accessory after the fact to treason or knowing that another person
intends to commit treason, fails to give prompt information thereof to

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CSS 152 INTRODUCTION TO NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW

the appropriate authority or fails to use other reasonable endeavours to

prevent the commission of an offence is guilty of a felony and is liable
to imprisonment for life.

3.3 Treasonable Felonies

If any person forms an intention for the purpose of removing the

President of the Federation or the Governor of a State, otherwise than by
constitutional means of for purpose of levying war against Nigeria in
order to compel the President to change his measure (polices) or
counsels in order to put any force or constraint upon or in order to
intimidate or overawe the National Assembly or any other legislature or
legislative authority or to instigate any foreigner to make any armed
invasion of Nigeria or any of the territories (States) thereof, and goes
further to manifest such intentions by an overt (positive) acts, such a
person is guilty of a felony land is liable to imprisonment for life. See
section 41 paragraphs (a)-(d) of the Criminal Code.

3.4 Limitation of Time

A person cannot be tried for treason, treasonable felony, concealment of

treason and promoting inter-communal war (native war) unless the
prosecution is commenced within two years after the offence is
committed.

On the strength of evidence to be adduced by the prosecution against the

accused for any of the foregoing offences see section 179(2) of the
Criminal Procedure Act.

4.0 CONCLUSION

This crime is only committed if (in addition to the other requirements)

the action of a person or group assume serious proportions. One of the
reasons for the existence of the crime is to protect the state or lawful
constituted authorities from intimidation and harassment. In this crime,
intent is the form of culpability required. The individual accused must
have been aware of the nature and purpose of the action of the group and
her participation in the activities of the group must be intentional. You
should be able to distinguish between treason, treasonable felony and
inter-tribal wars.

5.0 SUMMARY

Treason or treasonable felonies are heinous crimes.

In waging war, the accused need not be a member of a military
force or trained in the use of arm.

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The war must be levied for a general or public purpose.

The prosecution of an accused for the offences of treason,
treasonable felony etc., must be commenced within two years
after the offence is committed.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Distinguish between treason and treasonable felony.

2. Can it be said that a person has committed treason if by his act.
the President of Nigeria is not overawed or intimidated?
3. What is the strength of evidence to be added by the prosecution
before a conviction can be sustained on any of the foregoing
offences?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Smith & Hogan Criminal Law.

Glanville Williams Textbook of Criminal Law.

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UNIT 4 THE OFFENCE OF RAPE

In this unit, you will be exposed to the offence of rape which is rarely
reported amongst the adult and which is more often committed
particularly against very young girls. This unit will examine the
following sub-themes:

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Detailed Facts
3.2 Capacity
3.3 Carnal Knowledge
3.4 Consent
3.5 Mental Elements Required for Commission for the
Offence of Rape
3.6 Attempted Rape
3.7 Evidential Corroboration in Sexual Offences
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The offence of rape very frequently occurs but is very rarely reported.
This centres on the fact that very often the victims, usually female
adults, protect their personality and integrity and therefore shy away
from laying complaint against the accused.

The offence is committed when the accused, usually a male, without the
consent of the victim or through consent obtained by fraud or
intimidation, has a carnal knowledge of the complainant.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

explain what constitutes the offence of rape

identify the circumstances under which it could be said that the
offence of rape has been committed.

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3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Detailed Facts

In discussing the offence of rape, particular reference shall be paid to
sections 30, 6, 357 and 358 of the Criminal Code which border
respectively on capacity, carnal knowledge, consent and punishment for
rape.

Section 357 of the Criminal Code defines rape and it has this to say:
“Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of woman or girl
without her consent or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by
force or by means of false or fraudulent representation as to the nature of
act, or in the case of a married woman by impersonating her husband, is
guilty of the offence which is called rape”.

Furthermore, section 358 states that “any person who commits the
offence of rape is liable to imprisonment for life, with or without
canning”. In discussing the offence of rape as contained in section 357
of the Criminal Code, there are basic issues worth considering.

3.2 Capacity
The provision of section 30 of the Criminal Code says that “a male
person under the age of 12 years is presumed to be incapable of having
carnal knowledge”. It follows from this that he cannot be guilty of the
offence of rape or attempted rape, although on such a charge, he may be
convicted of indecent assault. See section176 of the Criminal Procedure
Act Cap 80 of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.

The presumption is one of law and cannot be rebutted by showing that

the accused has reached the full state of puberty even though he is below
the age of 12 years. The prosecution cannot be allowed to adduce
evidence to rebut that presumption.

Still under capacity, the question is, whether a woman is capable of

being convicted for the offence of rape? The answer is that it is an
impossibility having regard to the definition of rape as contained in
section 357 of the Criminal Code. The definition of rape in section 357
makes no reference to a woman or girl. Apart from that biologically,
only the males are equipped to achieve penetration by virtue of section 6
of the Criminal Code. But all the same, it does not mean that a woman
cannot be charged as a principal offender under section 7 for aiding,
counseling or procuring the commission of the offence of rape. On this
issues, see the case of R. v. Ram (1893) 17 COX 609. In that case, a
husband raped a maid. The wife was convicted as principal in the 2nd
degree.

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From the foregoing, it is clear that for the offence of rape to succeed, the
accused must possess the capacity to commit it. Furthermore, another
question may be whether a husband can be guilty of rape upon his wife?

According to Hakins in Criminal Law, sexual intercourse by husband

and wife is sanctioned by law and all other intercourse is unlawful. For
our purposes, the answer is that a husband cannot be guilty of rape upon
his wife because of the second limb of section 6 of the Criminal Code
provided there is a valid subsisting marriage at the time of the purported
commission of the offence. But if there is no such valid and subsisting
marriage and they are merely living as concubines, the so called
husband can be charged with the offence of rape. This is understandable
since there would have been no contract or marital relationship between
them.

The case of R. v. Clarke (1949) 33 Cr. APP R. 448 per the judgment of
Byne, J adopts the view of Hale as to why a husband cannot be guilty of
rape upon his wife. The reason is that, if the marriage has been
dissolved, or if a competent court has made a separation order
containing a non-cohabitation clause: that the spouse be no longer bound
to cohabit with her husband, the implied consent to intercourse at
marriage is revoked while the order is in force, it will be rape for the
husband to have intercourse with the spouse without her consent. Also,
if there is a decree absolute, then the husband can be charged with rape,
as the marital link would have ceased to exist. It may be borne in mind
that an undertaking by a husband (in lieu of injunction) not to assault,
molest or otherwise interfere with his wife… is equivalent to an
injunction and has the effect of revoking the implied consent to
intercourse. See R. v. Steel (1977) Crium. LR 290.

However, the mere fact that a wife has presented a petition for divorce
does not by itself revoke the implied consent to intercourse. See the
case of R. v. Miller (1954) 2 282. In that case, the complainant had left
the accused, her husband, and had filed a petition for divorce on the
ground of adultery. The hearing started and was adjoined so that the
accused might attend and give evidence. Later, the accused had
intercourse with his wife against her will. He was charged with rape and
assault occasioning actual bodily harm. It was held that the accused was
not guilty of rape but of common assault.

Following Lynskey, J. in the Miller’s case (supra), until that valid

subsisting marriage is dissolved; he cannot be convicted of rape. If
there is non-cohabitation clause, the clause in effect puts the relationship
into abeyance and so the husband can in this regard be convicted of
rape. See R. v. Miller (Supra) and R. v. Steele (Supra).

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Again, if there is a decree of nullity or what one considers to be no

marriage at all, the charge of rape can be brought against him. If a man
is suffering from venereal disease and inflicts it upon his wife, it does
not amount to rape, but at best, it would amount to cruelty. See the case
of R. v. Clarence (1888) 22 QBD 23. In that case, the accused was
charged for an offence under the Pensions Act 1861, particularly under
sections 20 and 47. He was alleged to have had intercourse with his
wife while suffering from gonorrhea which he communicated to her. He
was convicted. On a case stated for the opinion of the crown court, the
conviction was quashed.

On a comparative dimension, the Californian Penal Code makes a

provision for rape committed by the husband upon his wife. Equally, as
far back as 1952, the Israeli Legal system was trying to propound a law
of rape by husband upon his wife. The English Court lately adopts this
view.

In order to find out what a woman is, Omrod J. in Cobett v. Corbett

(1970) 2 All ER 33 gave certain criteria or features of a woman as
follows:

1. To look for the presence of chromosome factors.

2. To look for the presence or absence of testes or ovaries.
3. To look for the genital factor including the internal sexual organs.
4. The psychological factors.

3.3 Carnal Knowledge

In an offence of rape, carnal knowledge of the woman by the man must

be proved. Section 6 defines carnal knowledge and it states that when
the term carnal knowledge or the term carnal connection is used in
defining offence, it is implied that the offence so far as regards this
element is complete upon penetration.

The Supreme Court explained what constitutes penetration in the case of

Iko v. The State (2000) as follows:

“In legal parlance, any person who has unlawful carnal

knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent or with
her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by
means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of
harm or by means of false and fraudulent representation as
to the nature of the act is guilty of the offence of rape (see
section 357 cc). Sexual intercourse is deemed complete
upon proof of penetration of the penis into the vagina (see
R. v. Marsden (1981)) and Rutherford v. Rutherford
(1923), R. v. Kufi (1960).

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It has however been held that even the slightest penetration will be
sufficient to constitute the act of sexual intercourse. The fact that a
prosecutrix, who is alleged defiled, is found to be virgointcta (i.e. a
virgin) is not inconsistent with partial sexual intercourse and the court
will be entitled to find that sexual intercourse has occurred if it is
satisfied on the point from all the evidence led and surrounding
circumstance of the case. Where penetration is proved but not of such a
depth as to injure the hymen, it was held sufficient to constitute the
crime of rape. Proof of the rupture of the hymen is therefore
unnecessary to establish the offence of rape”.

For purpose of rape therefore, the most important ingredient is

penetration and unless penetration is proved, the prosecution must fail.
But penetration, however slight, is sufficient and it is not necessary to
prove injury or the rupture of the hymen or that there has been an
emission of semen.

It is settled law that the act of sexual intercourse which follows is part of
the offence itself, so that aid given after penetrating makes the aider a
party to the offence. See R. v. Mayberry (1973) QDR 211 and note as
well the dissenting view of Skerman, J. at p. 161. See Okonkwo’s
Criminal Law in Nigeria.

3.4 Consent

On a charge of rape, absence of consent is very important and the

prosecution has to prove that the accused had carnal knowledge of a
woman or girl, despite her age, without her consent. It is no excuse that
the complainant is a common prostitute or that she has consented to
intercourse with the accused person as a concubine. However, these
facts may persuade the court not to believe the complainant’s denial of
consent. Consent obtained by force or by means of threats or
intimidation or fear of harm is no consent. Consent given because of
exhaustion after persistence struggle or assistance would appear to be no
consent. Usually evidence of some struggle or resistance by the
complainant may be the best proof of lack of consent but this is not
always necessary.

The law is that for one to have a carnal knowledge of a sleeping woman,
one is said to have committed the offence of rape. It is also rape to have
carnal knowledge of woman by impersonating her husband. Submission
by a person of weak intellect or a person who is young to understand the
nature of the act done is no consent. It must be stated that, no consent is
effective which is obtained by fraud relating to the nature of act. See the
case of R. v. Flattery (1877) 2 QBD 17.

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As to the issue of consent, the prosecution need not prove a positive

consent by the woman, it is sufficient if the woman did not accept. Thus
the next is not, the act was against her will? But, was it without her
consent? Perhaps the question to be asked is whether she did accept or
did not accept.

In Tamaitirna Kaitamiki v. The Queen (1984), the accused was charged

with rape. It was alleged that he broke into a woman’s flat and twice
raped her. There was no dispute that sexual intercourse had taken place
on two occasions but he contended that the woman consented or he
honestly believed that she was consenting. On the second occasion, and
after he had penetrated her he became aware that she was not consenting
but he did not desist from intercourse.

In confirming the conviction by the lower courts, the Judicial

Committee of the Privy Council restated that sexual intercourse was
complete upon penetration and it was a continuing act only ending with
withdrawal. Consequently, the appellant was liable where he continued
intercourse after he realized that the woman was no longer consenting.

Some people have argued that it is impossible for a woman who has not
accepted or consented to be raped, since before acceptance of the penis,
there must be the lubrication of the vagina. That is to say: “there could
only be an absence of consent of the prosecutrix’s mind had been
overborne by fear of death of duress.”

This argument however, runs counter to judicial decisions. In

R. v. Olugboja (1981), the Court of Appeal (U.K) held that the offence
of rape was having sexual intercourse against the woman’s consent: that
the offence was not limited to cases where sexual intercourse had taken
place as a result of force, fear or fraud; and that the trial judge had
properly directed the jury that, although the complainant had neither
screamed nor struggled and she had submitted to sexual intercourse
without the defendant using force or making any threats of violence,
they had to consider whether the complainant had consented to sexual
intercourse.

It is argued that submission which is got by way of duress is not consent

because there is a distinction between submission and consent. Not
every submission is a consent, e.g. pointing a flick knife to secure
submission as in R. v. Mayers (1872) (supra). Mere animalistic instinct
would not be sufficient to constitute rape and a misrepresentation that is
not fundamental in respect of the identity of the person e.g. saying he is
a wealthy person does not violate consent so as to amount to rape (R. v.
Clarence (supra)).

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SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

1. What are the ingredients for rape?

2. Can rape be committed if penetration is not deep enough?

3.5 The Mental Element Required for Commission of the

Offence of Rape

If the accused person believed that the woman was consenting, he would
not be guilty of rape even though he had no reasonable grounds for his
belief. The mental element of rape is intention to have sexual
intercourse without the woman’s consent or with indifference as to
whether the woman consented or not – see DPP v. Morgan (1975) 2 All
ER 347 to the effect that a man cannot be convicted of rape, if he
believed albeit mistakenly that the woman gave her consent, even
though he had no reasonable ground for the belief.

The position of the law in DPP v. Morgan (supra) is valid and good law
in Nigeria because if an accused person pleads that he believed the
woman was consenting, he does not thereby bear the burden of
establishing the defence of honest and reasonable mistake of facts as
articulated in section 25 of the Criminal Code.

3.6 Attempted Rape

Any person, found guilty of attempted rape is liable to a term of

imprisonment for 14 years with or without whipping. See section 25 of
the Criminal Code. In R. v. Offiong (1936) 3 WACA 83, the accused
was said to have entered a lady’s room uninvited, took off his clothes,
expressed a desire to have sexual connection with her and actually
caught hold of her. Upon a charge of attempted rape, the court held that
these facts did not constitute the offence or attempted rape because, the
facts adduced merely indicated that the accused wanted to have and
made preparation to have sexual connection with the complainant.

The case of Jegede v. The State (2000) may be instructive. The accused
was alleged to have grabbed a school girl under 13 years and raped her
in a disused school toilet. The sexual attack was alleged to have taken
place on 24th May. The medical examination which took place on the
26th found evidence of tender vagina, purplish blue mucosa,
staphylococcus and yeast cells. The pathologist opined that these might
be due to traumatic inflammation and “forceful penetration of the genital
trait”.

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The accused denied the allegations and intended that the school girl was
his pupil at a private tuition school and her father owed him unpaid fees
which the girl too denied. Her father was not called as a witness, and
worked in the same hospital as the pathologist.

The trial court convicted the accused of rape. The Court of Appeal
quashed the conviction and sentence and substituted a conviction for
attempted rape. Dissatisfied, the accused further appealed to the
Supreme Court. The Supreme Court observed:

i. That there was no evidence of age of the prosecutrix; that her

hymen was torn during the alleged rape or whether or not she was
a virgin
ii. That there must first be proof of penetration
iii. That penetration of the vagina must be linked with the appellant
irrespective of whether the prosecutrix was a minor or an adult.

Absence of such evidence was fatal to any charge of rape. The Supreme
Court also considered the conviction for attempted rape as ‘unfortunate’
adding that to constitute an attempt, the act must be immediately
connected with the commission of the particular offence charged and
must be something more than mere preparation or the commission of the
offence. See R. v. Eagleton (1855), Ozigbo v. COP (1936) and Orija v.
IGP (1957).

Where the other ingredients of rape are present but the facts of
penetration is lacking or cannot be proved, the accused may be
convicted of attempted rape.

3.7 Evidential Corroboration in Sexual Offences

There are certain sexual offences with which the accused cannot be
convicted upon the uncorroborated testimony or evidence of one
witness. These are offences bordering on defilement of a girl under
thirteen. See section 218 of the Criminal Code.

For defilement of girls under sixteen and above thirteen and idiots, see
section 211 of the Criminal Code; procuration of a girl or woman for
unlawful carnal knowledge or for prostitution whether in Nigeria or else
where, see section 223 of the Criminal Code and procuring defilement
of a woman by threat or administering drugs. See section 224 of the
Criminal code.

In other sexual offences where the law has not specifically said the
accused cannot be convicted upon the uncorroborated testimony of one
witness, the courts are reluctant to convict upon the uncorroborated

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testimony of a complainant. It is not a rule of law that an accused

person in a charge of rape cannot be convicted on the uncorroborated
evidence of the prosecutrix.

But it is an established practice in Criminal Law that though

corroboration of the evidence or the prosecutrix in a rape case is not
essential in law, it is in practice always looked for and it is also be
practice to warn the jury (or the judge to warn himself) against the
danger of acting upon her uncorroborated testimony or that it is unsafe
to convict on the uncorroborated evidence of the prosecutrix.
(Ibeakanma v. The Queen (1963).

The court may after paying due attention to the warning nevertheless
convict the accused person if it is satisfied with the truth of her
evidence. The reluctance of the courts to convict upon uncorroborated
testimony of one witness is not predicated on law but on a rule of thumb
or practice. But the court may after warning itself nevertheless convict
on an uncorroborated evidence of a prosecution if it is satisfied of the
truth of her evidence. See the cases of Summonu v. Police (1957)
WRNLR 23 at 24 and R. v. Ekelagu (1960) 5 FSC 217.

The danger sought to be obviated by the requirement of corroborative

evidence is that the story told by the prosecutrix may be deficient,
inaccurate, suspect or incredible by reasons not applicable to other
competent witnesses. All that is required is confirmation and support
from some other source that is sufficient, satisfactory, credible and
corroborative that the suspect witness is telling the truth in some part of
her story which goes to show that the accused person committed the
offence with which he is charged. Corroborative evidence merely goes
to support or strengthen the assertions of the complainant.

It is not enough that the evidence tends to corroborate any part of the
story told by the complainant. It must corroborate substantially her
evidence. Indeed, it is trite law that evidence in corroboration must be
independent testimony, direct or circumstantial, which confirms in some
material particular not only that an offence has been committed but that
the accused has committed it. On a charge of rape, therefore, the
corroborative evidence must confirm in some material particular than

i. Sexual intercourse has taken place

ii. It took place without the consent of the woman or girl, and
iii. The accused person was the man who committed the crime.

Lord Reading, summed up what evidence constitutes corroborative

evidence this way: “Corroboration must be independent testimony,
which affects the accused by connecting or tending to connect him with

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the crime. In other words, it must be evidence which implicates him,

that is, which confirms in some material particular not only the evidence
that the crime has been committed but also that the defendant committed
it. The test applicable to determine the nature and extent of the
corroboration is thus the same whether the case falls within that class of
offence for which corroboration is required by statute or as a matter of
practice.

4.0 CONCLUSION

Rape is a crime and in this unit we have explained the requirement for
liability for certain sexual crimes by considering the possible liability of
an accused for rape, attempted rape, etc. We have been able to explain
the punishment for rape and attempted rape and how the crime of rape
can be proved in the law court.

5.0 SUMMARY

Consent to intercourse with a woman amounts to no rape.

If the woman does not consent to the offence, rape is committed.
If the consent is obtained either by force, threat, intimidation
impersonation or misrepresentation, there is not consent at all.
The offence of rape is complete upon the slightest penetration of the
penis into the vagina.
The accused must have the capacity to commit the offence.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. If a beautiful lady whom you have been admiring walks down

your office in her nakedness, and having been thrown into a
romantic trance, you pounce on her, throw her on the ground and
without her consent, you now have a sexual intercourse with her,
have you committed the offence of rape?

2. In Nigeria, the law is that the offence of rape is complete upon

the slightest penetration of the penis into the vagina. What
happens if a person cheers up the accused who has already
achieved penetration and who is now working towards
ejaculation?

3. Is there any justifiable ground why it could be said that a man

cannot rape his lawful wife?

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7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

G. Fletcher, Rethinking Criminal Law.

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990).Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Smith & Naish, Criminal Law, Cases Material.

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UNIT 5 THEORIES AND TYPES OF PUNISHMENT

The essence of this unit is to acquaint you with the theories and types of
punishment. If the court finds the accused person who was standing
trial before it to be guilty of the offence for which he is being charged
the court will then decide on the type of punishment to visit on the
accused persons depending however on the provision of the law. This
unit is treated thus:

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Retribution (Fair Deserts)
3.2 The Idea of Responsibility
3.3 Utilitarian Purpose of Punishment
3.4 Disablement
3.5 Deterrence
3.6 Rehabilitation
3.7 Educative Principle
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The essence of punishment in a criminal trial is to subject the accused to
some form of deprivation in as much the same way as it will also satisfy
the aspiration of the complainant. The punishment to be meted out by
the court is not at the whims and caprices to the court. The court itself is
guided by certain principles while awarding punishments which are
treated in this topic. The court will also look at the sanction provision of
the enactment which creates the offence in question.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

state theories of punishment

explain the principles behind the theories
explain the notion that liability can only lie against the accused
give the reasons for the various theories
explain the viability or otherwise of the theories.

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3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Retribution (Fair Deserts)
Under this heading the punishing authority looks back at the
circumstances of the crime committed and decides what type of
punishment the accused deserves for his conduct, having regard to his
responsibility for the crime. This approach involves retribution or the
wreaking of vengeances and infliction of injuries by society on behalf of
their injured individual, on the wickedness of the offender.

Therefore, punishment is imposed in order to relieve the indignant

feelings of the public or it could be imposed to mark the level of
revulsion with which the public regards the crime. The purpose of
capital punishment contains the notion of extra punishment which is also
implicit in hard labour as distinct from ordinary imprisonment. This
stems from the feelings that a more wicked man should suffer more
severe pain.

The effect of retribution, may be that the offender by undergoing

punishment is offered a chance to expiate (make amends for) his
wickedness, to relieve his conscience and to pay for what he has done.
Since retribution is essentially a non-utilitarian principle, it cannot be
disapproved but only accepted or rejected as a matter of emotional
preference.

In retributive (backward-looking) punishment there is the underlying

and universal notion that punishment must be just and fair – which
means that the offender should not be punished more than his offence
deserves. It may be difficult to decide what is a fair proportion between
a crime and the punishment attached to it, taking into consideration all
the circumstances of a case but there is an assumption that there exists
general notions in given community of what is just desert (appropriate
punishment).

The principle of fair desert is that a person should be punished only if he

has actually committed an offence as defined by law (thereby
emphasizing judicial precedent) and offences of unequal culpability
should be treated differently.

See the case of Maizako v. Superintendent General of Police (1960)

WRNLR 188. In that case, the sentence of one accused was upheld
because he had a record of burglary, but that of the other was reduced
because he had no previous conviction. Similarly, in Enahoro v. R
(1965) NMLR 25 at 283, the court reduced sentence imposed on
lieutenant (assistant) because it was heavier that that imposed on the
leader.

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Thus, the significance of the just desert notion lies in the fact that it acts
as a check on the principles of deterrence (which are forward looking
principles) or reform. It may well be added that a punishment may be
justified by the aims it hopes to achieve, but it can also be fair and
imposed on conduct, in such manner which the citizen has a responsible
ground of knowing such conduct to be criminal.

3.2 The Notion (Idea) of Responsibility

Closely related and germane to the principle of retribution is the notion

of responsibility or culpability. This is also because a man deserves
punishment only to the degree which he was responsible for his criminal
acts. For e.g. if a person who was suffering from insanity kills another,
we do not hang him in return, instead he may be ordered to be put in an
asylum for observation and that does not amount to paying him back for
killing another, but it is designed to protect other persons from possible
future attacks.

The notion of responsibility can be said to arise at three different stages

in a criminal trial. First, the court would decide the straight forward
factual issue whether the accused did act or make the omission with
which he is charged. Here, doing the act or making the omission
conjures the accused person’s responsibility.

The second stage of the trial is used to describe the finding that not only
did the accused do the act or make the omission with which he is
charged but also that in the eyes of the law, he is responsible for it. The
third stage is that of sentence. Here punishment may be mitigated
(lessened or reduced) on the ground that his responsibility though
proved, was not very great and at this stage, there are degrees of
responsibility.

Sometimes, at the third stage (during punishment), there may be

diminished responsibility as when a man steals to feed his starving
children, he may receive an acquittal, usually at the discretion of the
court. But please bear in mind that you cannot be availed of
responsibility, if upon a charge for murder you are pleading provocation.
Because the concept of responsibility rests on a reasonable amount of
freedom of choice and capacity to regulate one’s conduct.

A number of controversies have arisen as to the standards of

responsibility to be adopted (see Okonkwo and Naish’s opinion). See
the opinion of Professor Brett in his book “An Inquiry into Criminal
Guilt” pt. 42 at 101.

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Further, on the standards of responsibility, Lord Coleridge C. J handed

down a dictum which though leading was also flexible. For that dictum,
see the case of R. v. Duiley and Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273 at 288.

On the whole, it is argued that, it is safer to anchor the standard of

responsibility on the standard of an ordinary man. When the standard of
responsibility commensurate reasonably well with the standard of the
ordinary man, then this ensures that we can plan our lives so as to avoid
liability if we are involved in breach of law by genuine mistake or
accident. See section 25 and 24 of the Criminal Code respectively.

3.3 Utilitarian Objects of Punishment

The point must be recognized that utilitarian principles of punishment

are essentially forward-looking. It is forward looking because
punishment is imposed with an eye to its future results, the basic aim
being to prevent further crime.

There are about four utilitarian principles and to the analysis of these,
we now turn.

3.4 Disablement

This is a principle which seeks to disable the offender through the

imposition of capital punishment or imprisonment for life. The
principle seems to be saying that the more willing is the danger a crime
is thought to present, the more willing is the society that the offender be
shut off for a considerable time. Thus in R. v. Adebesin (1940) 6
WACA 197. On appeal sentences imposed after a conviction for armed
robbery and burglary, the Court of Appeal increased the sentences of the
two accused persons of 10 years and 8 years imprisonment respectively
to 15 years and 12 years. The court said that for the protection of the
public, the offenders should be sent to prison for even longer terms than
those imposed by the trial judge.

3.5 Deterrence

This is regarded as the most potent and vibrant principle of punishment

and it takes two forms. In the first form punishment may be imposed in
order to deter the particular accused from offending again or in the
second form, it may be imposed with the more general view of deterring
the public from doing what the accused did. The court adopted the more
general view in the case of State v. Okechukwu (1965) 9 EALR 91 at 94.
In the case, Nkemena J. imposing a sentence of nine years in a case of
manslaughter by a medical quack said this type of offence is very
common nowadays and a deterrent sentence is called for in this case.

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Ignorant persons should not be allowed to experiment with the lives of

others”.

It is a truism that the general theory of deterrence runs counter to the

notion of fair deserts (earlier examined) than it appears. That more
favoured judicial approach by the court. Regarding the issue whether
deterrence as a utilitarian object of punishment really has the deterrent
capacity or the capacity to deter, it may be said that, there is concrete
fact that some criminals who actually commit crimes are not deterred by
fear of punishment which explains why heinous crimes like robbery are
on the increase in spite of the deterrent punishment attached to it.

Deterrent punishments are most often imposed on offenders who are

believed to be professional criminals but career criminals are not likely
to be deterred by it. It is thus argued that it is not the fear of punishment
that deters a calculating criminal from crime, so much as the fear of
detection.

Okonkwo and Naish submit that the principle of deterrence does not
play any useful part in punishment and so should be applied with
caution.

3.6 Rehabilitation or Form

The essence of this method of punishment is not to punish an offender

by imposing some unpleasantness upon him but rather to prevent him
from offending again by transforming his attitude so that he himself will
voluntarily refrain from offending again.

The most notable method of rehabilitation is probation. Here, the only

unpleasantness imposed on the offender is to place him under the
supervision of a probation officer, though he is otherwise free to pursue
his normal life. The essence of the rehabilitation principle is to build up
the offender’s personal sense of responsibility.

The principle of rehabilitation designed to protect the society and it is

applied most frequently to those offenders who are regarded not to
present a very grave threat to the community but on the contrary for
whom there is the greatest hope of rehabilitation e.g. juveniles.

3.7 Educative Principle

Closely related to both the deterrent and rehabilitative aspects of

punishment is the educative aspect. The essence of this type of
punishment is to educate people out of a certain way of behaviour which
is prevalent. Thus the mere fact that a part of the community denounces

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a particular conduct so strongly as to render it liable to punishment will

not only deter others from committing it; it will also make them come to
see that such conduct is wrong. For example, slavery, when first
prohibited was commonplace in many areas in Nigeria but at present
slavery is relatively a rare occurrence because of the community’s
attitude towards the practice.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit, we exposed the fact that punishment is to serve 3 purposes:

Rehabilitation
Reformation and education of the offender.

The tripod on which justice is hung i.e. justice to the victim, justice to
the accused and justice to the society was also held in a delicate balance
by the various themes and types of punishment as exposed by the unit.
The effort here is to show that punishment serves a correctional role in
out legal system.

5.0 SUMMARY

The essence of punishment is to subject the accused person to some

measure of deprivation.
These are some underlying principles associated with punishment.
A man deserves punishment only to the degree which he was
responsible for his criminal act.
The utilitarian principle is essentially forward looking because the
punishment it imposes is designed to achieve future results.
In disablement, capital punishment is imposed in order to disable the
accused from offending again.
The essence of deterrence is to deter the offender and attune him to
the path of proper conduct.
Rehabilitation is designed to transform the attitude of the offender.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Why is it necessary to study the various theories of punishment?
2. Critically examine the notion of responsibility in the theories of
punishment.
3. Is capital punishment a desideratum in our legal system?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

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G. Fletcher, Rethinking Criminal Law.

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing

Smith & Naish Criminal Law, Cases Material.

UNIT 6 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SENTENCING

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In this unit attempt will be made at examining the principles of

sentencing on a general note. This unit would therefore be categorized
thus:

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Detailed Work
3.2 The English Position
3.3 The Nigerian Position
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Sentencing is the process of pronouncing a particular punishment on the

accused person who has been found guilty by the trial court. The
sentence on the accused is based on the principle law which has created
the offence and which has also provided for the sanction provided in that
particular offence.

However, greatly though, it is a decision based on the discretion of the

court, which influences the court’s decision on the sentence against the
accused. It is a natural process of handling the society.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

state the principles of sentencing

explain idea behind the principles of sentencing
decide on the particular principles of punishment in order to
ultimately decide on the nature or types of sentencing.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

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3.1 Detailed Work

Sentencing is the way in which principles of punishment are applied to

individual cases for the desired results. The law as contained in the
constitution and other enactment is that the penalty for an offence must
be prescribed in a written law. That means that the law sets down the
maximum punishment for an offence depending however on, the
seriousness or otherwise of the offence committed or complained of.

In practice, maximum punishment prescribed by law in respect of

certain offences are very rarely imposed, because in most cases, a large
area of discretion is left with the courts to decide what the exact nature
and extent of a sentence will be. In exercising their discretion, the
courts must not exceed the maximum punishment prescribed by the law
or the limits to their own powers and jurisdiction.

Okonkwo and Naish submit that sentencing ought to be a rational

process in the sense that a sentence should be passed with a specific
principle or principles (which have been discussed earlier). Thus the
principle to be applied and the type of sentence to be given may vary
according to the needs of each particular case.

Sentencing therefore depends on the nature of the offence committed by

the offender. For example, for a minor offence where deterrence is
though appropriate and likely to be effective, a fine may be sufficient.
Where the offence is grave but it is still felt that consideration of the
individual offender is paramount, then there may be committal to some
sort of reformative institution. Where the court considers that the need
of the community must override the individual’s then the severer the
penalty permitted by law for example imprisonment may be imposed.

The courts are often thrown into grave decision of policy at the two
stages of sentencing process. In the first place, they have to decide from
amongst the conflicting principles of punishment which they should
apply to the facts of a particular case. In the second place, having
settled for a particular principle, to apply, they must discover which type
and what quantum (measure) of sentence will be accorded with it. But it
seems plain to say that all too often, a punishment is imposed because it
is the traditional one for that type of offence and some busy judges and
magistrates do not see the need for a conscious and deliberate thought
about the philosophy and practice of punishment when handing down
their sentences.

However, one is quick to add that the selection of the appropriate

penalty is not an easy matter, for the courts must bear in mind, the effect
of the penalty both on the offender and the society.

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3.2 The English Position

In England, the Streatfield committee of 1961 suggested inter alia that a

principle for all sentencing should be predicated on the fact that the
court should have reasonable grounds for believing the sentence is likely
to have the desired effect – which is believed to be based on properly
marshaled observation of the results of similar sentences imposed in
similar circumstances in the past.

3.3 The Nigerian Position

In Nigeria, at the moment, although a court must give adequate reason

(ration) for its decision on a point considered sound, it is not forced to
give reasons when it sentences.

It is stated here that the courts, in sentencing, should be guided by the

appropriate principles of punishment, so that such sentencing should
provide the desired results intended by the court and the intended effects
on the offender and larger society.

4.0 CONCLUSION

Sentencing is not a mechanical process as the judges themselves are not

mechanical calculators. They apply the principle of laws to diverse cases
and this informs different results as a result of surrounding
circumstances of each case. Sentencing is not an arithmetical act with a
predetermined result.

5.0 SUMMARY

Sentencing is a punishing mechanism

The sentence is predicated on the principal law.
The principle to be applied in sentencing depends on each particular
case.
The penalty to be visited on the offender should have rehabilitative
effect on the offender and positive impact on the society.
In Nigeria, the court is not compelled to give reasons when it
sentences.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. What is the process by which a convicted criminal could be made

to pay for his misconduct?

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2. Mention the organ properly constituted and authorized to

sentence an offender.
3. What is the view of English Streatfield committee of1961 on
sentencing?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo & Naish (1992). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan: Spectrum

Law Publishing.

Whyte, Karibi A.G. (1993). History and Source of Nigerian Criminal

Law. Spectrum Law Publishing.

Williams G. (1992). Learning the Law. Stevens and Sons.

UNIT 7 THE POLICE AND THE ADMINISTRATION

OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

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In this unit, you will be introduced to the institution called the police and
the role it plays in the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria. This
unit is summarized as follows:

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Historical Evolution
3.2 Establishment
3.3 Arrest
3.3.1 With Warrant
3.3.2 Without Warrant
3.3.3 Life Span of Warrant of Arrest
3.4 Searches
3.5 Prevention of Crimes
3.6 Granting Police Bail
3.7 Institution and Conduct of Criminal Proceeding
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Nigeria Police Force is a constitutional creation. It is saddled

principally with maintenance of law and order and the prevention,
detection and suppression of crimes in or society. It also has a principal
role to play in the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria. From
the complaint stage up to the point of trial and conviction, the police is
involved.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

show that the Police Force is an important institution in Nigeria

show that the Police Force plays a significant role in criminal justice
administration in Nigeria
explain that the functions bestowed on it by the enacting authority
are intended for maintenance of law and order.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Historical Evolution

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The Nigeria Police Force is a government agency whose sole

responsibility is to enforce and maintain laws and orders. The Black’s
Law Dictionary 6th Edition at p. 1156 defines the police as “The Branch
of government which is charged with the preservation of public order
and tranquility, the promotion of the public health, safety and morals,
and the prevention, detection and punishment of crimes”.

The Longman dictionary of Contemporary English defines the police as

an official body of men and women whose duty is to protect people and
property, to make everyone obey the law, to catch criminal etc.

The Nigeria Police has an antecedent that cannot be forgotten too soon.
According to historical analysis, it is often said that even in the
unrefined pre-colonial Nigeria, there existed institutions that played the
roles of keeping the peace, preventing crimes.

This moved from the very unrefined era up to the twilight era. Writing
in his book - Constitutional Law in Nigeria – particularly at p. 433
Professor Oluyele said it all thus “Although it is arguable, the tribes,
individuals, communities and towns in the land area now known as
Nigeria, had their own system of police force… the truth is that the
Nigerian Police Force found in our statute books today, was introduced
into this country by the British”.

Therefore it is apt to opine that the origin, development and the role of
the British inspired police system was shaped by the nature of European
interest in this part of the world and the reactions of native communities.
Thus when Mecoskry, the British Consul discovered that king Dosumu
and his chiefs opposed the annexation of Lagos and situation was rather
dangerous for his safety, he began to establish a police force. That
exercise began the fist modern police force in the history of the colony
of Lagos. It was also the first modern police force in the territories later
designated as Nigeria.

3.2 Establishment

The Nigeria Police Force is established by section 214 of the 1999

Constitution and that section provides thus “There shall be a police force
for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and
subject to the provision of this section, no other police force shall be
established for the federation or any part thereof”.

Section 214(2) of the Constitution afore said provides that subject to the
provisions of the Constitution (a) the Nigeria Police Force shall be

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organized and administered in accordance with such provisions as may

be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.

Against the background of the foregoing there is the Police Ac, Cap 359
LFN 1990. Section 4 of that Act has spelt out in detail the duties of the
police. That section reads “The police shall be employed for the
prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the
preservation of law and order, the protection of life and property and the
due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are directly
charged, and shall perform such military duties within or without
Nigeria as may be required of them by or under the authority of this or
any other Act.”

From the above provisions of section 4 of the Police Act, it is apposite

to say that the police is an indispensable tool in the administration of
criminal justice in Nigeria.

The duties of the police are summarized as follows

3.3 Arrest

This is the logical starting point in criminal proceedings. It is the act of

securing the appearance of the offender before a court of competent
jurisdiction. An arrest is effected by the police officer or officers
making the arrest actually touching or confining the body of the person
to be arrested, unless there is submission to the custody by words of
mouth or action.

Except where the person to be arrested submits to the custody of the

officer effecting the arrest when he is informed unequivocally that he is
under arrest, an arrest cannot be effected by mere words of mouth. The
person to be arrested must actually be touched or his body confined or
whichever is suitable at any given circumstances.

The case of Sadiq v. The State (1982) 2 NCR 142 graphically illustrate
what constitute arrest in the eyes of the law. In that case, the accused
was invited by a police officer to the police station for questioning over
the commission of an alleged offence. The accused refused to
accompany the police officer to the police station. Thereafter, other
officers were sent to the accused and she was persuaded to accompany
them to the police station. The accused was charged and convicted of
the offence of resisting police arrest. On appeal against her conviction,
the appellate court held that the appellant was never arrested by the
police officers because there was no restraining of the appellant.
There are two ways by which an arrest can be made:

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Arrest with Warrant and

Arrest without Warrant

3.3.1 Arrest with Warrant

A warrant of arrest is an authority issued by a court to a police officer to

arrest an offender. It is directed to a police officer ordering such officer
to arrest the offender and bring him before the court to answer the
allegations made against him. It is usually issued by a magistrate or a
judge of a High Court after receiving complaint on oath that a person
has committed and offence. A warrant may be executed on any day
including Sunday or a public holiday, at any time and in any part of the
State other than within the actual court room in which the court is
sitting. See section 28(1) and (2) of CPA cap80 LFN 1990, and section
63 of CPC, cap 81 LFN 1990.

3.3.2 Arrest without Warrant

This is the commonest method of bringing an offender before the court.

In order to avoid any ugly situation of allowing offenders to escape
arrest, powers to instant arrest are necessary for the effective
administration of criminal justice. The police are generally and
generously endowed with three powers by the CPA, CPC and the Police
Act.

Furthermore, sections 10, 11 and 55 of the CPA, section 24 of the Police

Act, section 26 of the CPC and column 3 of Appendix A to the CPC,
collectively empowers a police officer or officers to arrest a suspect
without a warrant of arrest.

Under section 10(1) of the CPA, any police officer may without an order
from a magistrate and without a warrant arrest:

Any person whom he suspects upon reasonable grounds of having

committed an indictable offence against a federal law against the law of
a state unless a written law creating the offences provides that an
offender cannot be arrested without a warrant.

Any person who commits any offence in hi presence (I hold the view
that in view of (a) above, (b) there should be properly re-couched in
order to take care of the exception provided in (a) above).

Any person who obstructs a police officer while in the execution of his
duty or who has escaped or attempt to escape from lawful custody.

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Any person in whose possession anything is found which may

reasonably be suspected of having committed an offence with reference
to such a thing.

Any person whom he suspects upon reasonable grounds of being a

deserter from any of the armed forces in Nigeria. See further sections,
f, g, h, I, j of the CPA.

The power conferred on a police under section 10 (1)(b) of the CPA and
section 26(a) of the CPC to arrest any person who commits an offence in
his presence is an absolute power and therefore it is not subject to any
limitation contemplated in section 10(1)(a) of the CPA. Thus even
where the statute creating the offence provides that a person who
commits the offence cannot be arrested without a warrant, that limitation
is ineffective if the offence is committed in the presence of a police
officer. See section 10(1) (b) of the CPA.

In exercising the power given in section 10(1)(a) of the CPA, the

grounds for reasonable suspicion may be either a police officer’s own
knowledge or facts stated to him by another person – see the case of
IGP vs. Ogbomor (1957) WRNLR 200 where it was held that under
section 10(1)(a) of the CPA, a police officer could arrest without a
warrant a person on whom he knows there is a pending charge for an
indictable offence, and for whom the police are looking, such
knowledge affording the ground for reasonable suspicion.

Section 11 of the CPA and section 26 of the CPC gives the police the
power to arrest any person suspected of having committed an offence
who refused to give his name and address and may eventually give
information that is false.

Section 55 of the CPA and section 26(e) of the CPC gives the police
power to arrest any person known to be designing to commit any
offence, it is appears to the officer that the commission of the offence
cannot otherwise be prevented.

3.3.3 Life Span of Warrant of Arrest

A warrant of arrest once issued remains in force until the offender is

arrested or the judge or magistrate vacates it or cancel it - see section
25(2) of the CPA and section56(2) of the CPC. It therefore does not
cease to be valid after any period of time before its execution.

However, if any arrest has been made on its authority and the person
arrested is later released, the warrant is no more a valid authority for re-
arresting him. A new warrant has to be issued.

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3.4 Searches

When a person is arrested by the police for having committed an

offence, it may be necessary for the police to conduct a search of the
person depending on the nature of the offence alleged against him. The
search may be necessary in order to obtain evidence to be used at the
trial of the offender.

A search may be conducted on persons and on things. With regard to

search of a person, see section 29 of the Police Act provides “A police
officer may detain and search any person whom he reasonably suspects
of having in his possession or conveying in any manner anything which
he has reason to believe to have been stolen or otherwise unlawfully
obtained”.

In conducting search, the police has the authority to remove everything

with the accused apart from the apparel he was wearing – see section
6(1) of CPA and section 44(2) of he CPC.

Whenever it is necessary to cause a woman to be searched, the search

shall be made by another woman. Further, the search of female suspect
shall be with strict regard to decency. In other words, it is the female
officers who should search female suspects.

Search of Premises

The general rule is that for a premise to be searched, a warrant must be

obtained by the police. However, if a person to be arrested under a
warrant of arrest is suspected of being in a premise, a search of the
premise may be conducted for the persons being sought without a search
warrant. See section 7 of the CPA and section 34 of the CPC. Thus, a
warrant of arrest is also an authority to search a premise.

A search warrant may be issued by a magistrate when he is satisfied

upon oath and in writing that there is a reasonable ground for believing
that any building, ship, carriage, receptacle or place is being used for the
commission of an offence – see section 107(1) of the CPA.

A police officer of the rank of cadet ASP can issue a search warrant but
this power is not wide as that of a magistrate. The reason is that he can
only issue search warrants on any shop, warehouse or other premises
which within the proceeding of 12 months was in occupation of any
person convicted of receiving stolen property or harbouring thieves or
fraud or dishonesty and is liable to be imprisoned – see section 24 of the
Police Act.

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On the time for execution of a search warrant, I refer you to section 111
of the CPA and for the execution of search warrant generally, see
section 112 of the CPA and sections 78(1), 79 and 81(1) of the CPC.

3.5 Prevention of Crime

In order to play their role in the administration of criminal justice, the

police is conferred with certain powers in relation to prevention of
crimes by some statutes. Let us now examine them thus:

Section 4 of the Police Act provides inter alia that the police shall be
employed for the prevention and detection of crimes, the apprehension
of offenders and the preservation of law and order.

Also, section 53 of the CPA provides that a police officer may intervene
for the purpose of preventing and shall to the best of his ability prevent
the commission of an offence.

For more see also sections 54 and 55 of the CPA.

Again, section 275 of the criminal code particularly in its 2nd limb says
that is lawful for a peace officer or police officer who witnessed a
breach of the peace, and for any person lawfully assisting him, to arrest
any person whom he finds committing it, or whom he believes on
reasonable grounds to be about to join in or renew the breach of the
peace.

3.6 Granting of Police Bail

Any person arrested by the police without a warrant on suspicion of

having committed an offence must be taken to court by the police within
one day (24 hours) if there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a
radius of 40 kilometers of the place of the alleged commission of the
offence. In any other cases, a period of two days (48 hours) or such
longer period as in the circumstances may be considered by the court to
be reasonable – see section 35(5) (a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution
and section ---- of the CPA.

The issue of police bail arises after a person arrested without a warrant
of arrest is taken to the police station. The officer in charge of the police
station may admit the suspect to bail pending subsequent investigation
into the matter. The suspect is usually granted bail upon his entering
into a bond or recognisance with or without sureties to appear at the
police station at such time as are named in the bond. See section 17 and
18 of the CPA. The bail granted by the police while investigations are
continuing into the allegation against the accused is to enable him to

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secure his release on condition that he will return to or appear at the

police station at the specified time in the bond.

But in practice where a capital offence i.e. murder is alleged against a

person detained by the police, the police has certainly be detaining the
person longer than 24 or48 hours as the case may be but this is against
the provisions of the constitution (1999) and there should be a refrain by
the police.

3.7 Institution and Conduct of Criminal Proceedings

This duty of the police is contained in section 35 of the Police Act which
states “Subject to the provisions of section 150 and section 195 of the
Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (which relates to the power of AG of the
Federation and AG of a state to institute and undertake, take over and
continue or discontinue criminal proceedings against any person before
any court of laws in Nigeria) any police officer may conduct in person
all prosecutions before any court whether or not the information is laid
in his name.

From the foregoing, a police officer can institute proceedings against

any person in all courts of law in Nigeria, thereby undertaking his duty
of due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which he is charged.
But in practice, a police officer’s duty to institute criminal proceedings
in the superior courts and sometimes in magistrate courts in serious
cases.

4.0 CONCLUSION

This unit has stressed the importance of the Nigeria Police in the
criminal justice system in Nigeria. It also stresses the reason behind the
numerous statutory powers conferred on the Police i.e. power of arrest,
search, prosecution, detain, grant bail, prevention of crime and the
centrality of the Police to good governance and accountability.

5.0 SUMMARY

The Nigeria Police Force is created by law to maintain law and order
in the society.
Section 24 creates the Nigeria Police Force.
The Police has authority to arrest suspected criminals.
It also has the power to search.
It prevents crimes in the society.
It can also grant bail whenever the need arises.
It has the power to institute and conduct criminal proceedings.

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6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Trace the historical evolution and establishment of the Nigeria

Police Force.
2. Under what circumstances can the police arrest a suspect without
a warrant?
3. What are the duties of the Police Force in Nigeria?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Okonkwo C. O & Naish (1990). Criminal Law in Nigeria. Ibadan:

Spectrum Law Publishing.

Smith & Hogan, Criminal Law.

Glanville Williams, Textbook of Criminal Law.

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