Thesis Abstract

Thesis Overview

INTRODUCTION1.1 Background of the Study In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and interpreting law[1]. Although appellate courts have existed for thousands of years, common law countries did not incorporate an affirmative right to appeal into their jurisprudence until the 19th century[2]. Nigerian legal system is essentially a colonial heritage which springs from British colonial rule in Nigeria. Undoubtedly, it is for this reason that Nigeria’s legal system is patterned after the British legal system. However, there is a fundamental difference between Britain and Nigeria in relation to political organization of the state; while Britain adopted the unitary system of government wherein powers of government are legitimately concentrated at the centre, Nigeria adopted federal system of government by which governmental powers are constitutionally shared between the central government and federating entities.[1] See generally, Keenan D. Kmiec, The Origin & Current Meanings of "Judicial Activism", 92 Cal. L. Rev. 1441, 1442 (2004) (discussing contemporary discourse regarding judicial activism); Jonathan Mallamud, Prospective Limitation and the Rights of the Accused, 56 Iowa L.Rev. 321, 359 (1970) ("the power of the courts to contribute to the growth of the law in keeping with the demands of society”); Realist Jurisprudence & Prospective Overruling, 109 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1, 6 (1960) (discussing appeals as -a deliberate and conscious technique of judicial lawmaking”).[2] Stan Keillor, Should Minnesota Recognize A State Constitutional Right to A Criminal Appeal?, 36 Hamline L. Rev. 399, 402 (2013).