Comparing maintenance and property rights in marriage under customary law and statutory law in Africa

ABSTRACT

Two dominant legal systems operate in a typical post-colonial African state: the indigenous customary law of the African people and the Received Colonial Laws. Despite the elevation of statutory laws above customary law under the modern state structure in Africa, customary law is still pervasive and regulates most aspects of the personal lives of Africans. Most commentators argue that the practice of customary law discriminates against women. This paper discusses the practice of customary law, its impact on statutory marriages, and how human rights have engendered a new trajectory in the development of customary law in Africa. The paper identifies the positive influence of the Received Colonial Laws and human rights law on maintenance and property rights and suggests the adaptation of the positive aspects of statutory law, the amendment of marriage laws, and the enactment of gender-sensitive legislation on marriage rights for women.

KEYWORDS:

• Customary law
• received colonial law
• human rights law
• marriage law
• maintenance rights
• property rights

Notes

1 ‘Marriage rights’ is used in this paper to refer to the rights available to married couples. Two of these rights, maintenance rights and property rights, underpin the discussion in this paper. While maintenance rights involve the right of a spouse to be maintained during the marriage, at separation, and after divorce, property rights involve the right of spouses to properties acquired by a couple during their marriage or during the period of co-habitation. See the Property (Rights of Spouses) Act No 4, 2004 (Ghana) for a more detailed exposition of property rights.

2 JS Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (Heinemann 1969) 133.

3 Allison D Kent, ‘Custody, Maintenance, and Succession: The Internalization of Women’s and Children’s Rights under Customary Law in Africa’ (2007) 28 Michigan Journal of International Law 506, 512; David Pimentel, ‘Legal Pluralism in Post-Colonial Africa: Linking Statutory and Customary Adjudication in Mozambique’ (2011) 14 Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 59.

4 Muna Ndulo, ‘African Customary Law, Customs, and Women’s Rights’ (2011) Cornell Law Faculty Publications 187, 188.

5 ibid 88; Amos O Enabulele and Bright Bazuaye, ‘Validity and Enforceability of Customary Law in Nigeria: Towards a Correct Delimitation of the Province of the Courts’ (2019) 63 Journal of African Law 79, 81.

6 Samuel Nwankwo Chinwuba Obi, Modern Family Law in Southern Nigeria (Sweet & Maxwell 1966) 7.

7 (1990) NWLR (pt 137) 182, 207 (Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN)).

8 Customary Law is regulatory in that it controls the life and transactions of the community subject to it; see ibid.

9 See generally (n 3).

10 Ndulo (n 4) 88; Andreas Rahmatian, ‘Termination of Marriage in Nigerian Family Laws: The Need for Reform and the Relevance of the Tanzanian Experience’ (1996) 10 International Journal of Law, Policy and Family 281, 283; Kent (n 3) 514.

11 Kent (n 3) 514, citing Vivek Maru, ‘Between Law and Society: Paralegals and the Provision of Justice Services in Sierra Leone and World-Wide’ (2006) 31 Yale Journal of International Law 427.

12 ibid.

13 Enabulele and Bazuaye (n 5) 79.

14 See Richard Abel, ‘Customs, Rules, Administration, Community’ (1984) 28 Journal of African Law 6, 6–7; Ann Seidman and Robert B Seidman, ‘The Political Economy of Customary Law in the Former British Territories of Africa’ (1984) 28 Journal of African Law 41.

15 Abel (n 14) 6–7.

16 See, eg, Ndulo (n 4); Enabulele and Bazuaye, (n 5) 81.

17 Rahmatian (n 10) 282; Ndulo (n 4) 88.

18 ES Nwauche, ‘The Constitutional Challenge of the Integration and Interaction of Customary Law and the Received English Common Law in Nigeria and Ghana’ (2010) 25 Tulane European & Civil Law Forum 37, 39, citing US Department of State, 2009 Report on International Religious Freedom—Nigeria (26 October 2009); see also Abdulmumini A Oba, ‘Religious and Customary Law in Nigeria’ (2011) 25 Emory International Law Review 881, citing PAO Oluyede, Peter Oluyede’s Constitutional Law in Nigeria (Evans Brothers 1992) 21.

19 Marriage Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, cap M6.

20 Edwin I Nwogugu, Family Law in Nigeria (3rd edn HEBN Publishers 2014) 4; MOA Ashiru, ‘Gender Discrimination in the Division of Property on Divorce in Nigeria’ (2007) 51 Journal of African Law 316, 317.

21 The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) (the Constitution), sch 2, item 61.

22 See Bornu Native Authority v Magudama (1946) (West African Court of Appeal (WACA)) (unreported), cited by Oba (n 18) 887, where Judge Ames explains that ‘Muhammadan Law has no privileged position [in Nigeria]’; see also Obiekwe v Obiekwe (1963) 7 ENLR 196.

23 The Constitution is the supreme law of the country by virtue of section 1, and any law that is inconsistent with its provisions is void to the extent of the inconsistency. See Constitution (n 21), s 1(3).

24 SO Tonwe and OK Edu, Customary Law in Nigeria (Renaissance Publishers 2007) 152.

25 See the numerous judicial and academic authorities cited by Nwauche (n 18) 39.

26 By indigenous customary law, we refer to the unwritten indigenous customs and practice of native Africans. Muhammed Bello CJN made this distinction between Islamic law and customary law in the case of Usman v Umaru (1992) 7 NWLR (Pt 254) 377, 401 (SCN), where he stated ‘customary law has been stated to be the unwritten customary law recognised as law by members of an ethnic group and it is “mirror of accepted usage” … On the other hand, it is a notorious fact that Moslem Law is written in the Holy Koran, in the numerous books of the Hadith.’

27 It is noteworthy that the concept of marriage as a union of persons of opposite sex has faced serious challenges with the legalisation of same sex marriage in many countries. See Nwogugu (n 20) 5–8.

28 ibid 17.

29 Ibid 85.

30 [1886] LR 1 P & D 130, 133 (English Court of Probate and Divorce).

31 Akinsemoyin v Akinsemoyin (1971) NMLR 272, 275; see also Coker v Coker, Suit No WD/19/61 of 7/1/1963 (Lagos High Court) (unreported), where Udo-Udoma J stated that ‘[t]he very idea of maintaining a wife after divorce appears to me to be foreign to the African conception of marriage and divorce. A situation like this cries aloud for a distinct Nigerian rule’; cited in Margaret C Onokah, Family Law in Nigeria (Spectrum Books Limited 2003) 237, 247.

32 Nwogugu (n 20) 255; Brown E Umukoro, ‘A Case for the Recognition of the Right of Spouses under Customary Law to Maintenance’ in FO Oho and OK Edu, Women, Law & the Family (Art Masters Lagos 2016) 312.

33 Nwogugu (n 20) 290; Umukoro (n 32) 313.

34 Nwogugu (n 20); Onokah (n 31).

35 Onokah (n 34) 236, citing Obi (n 6) 216.

36 Nwogugu (n 20) 293.

37 Onokah (n 34) 237; Nwogugu (n 20).

38 Suit No M/559/76 of 5/11/76 (Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan) (unreported).

39 ibid.

40 Suit No 9/68 of 18/1/68 (Customary Court, Ewetto) (unreported).

41 See SNC Obi, The Customary Law Manual: A Manual of Customary Laws Obtaining in the Anambra and Imo States of Nigeria (Government Printer 1977) 312.

42 Amachree v Goodhead (1923) 4 NLR 101 (Divisional Court, Degema).

43 Onokah (n 34) 184.

44 Nwogugu (n 20) 238; Onokah (n 34).

45 Onokah (n 34), citing Obi, The Customary Law Manual (n 41) 159–160.

46 Nwogugu (n 20) 293.

47 Nwogugu (n 20); Sylvia C Ifemeje and Nneka Umejiaku, ‘Discriminatory Cultural Practices and Women’s Rights among the Igbos of South-East Nigeria: A Critique’ (2014) 25 Journal of Law, Policy and Globalisation 18, 20.

48 Nwogugu (n 20) 293; Umukoro (n 32) 313.

49 See Sheriff and Civil Processes Act, Laws of the Federation 2004, domesticated in the various States of Nigeria as the Sheriff and Civil Process Laws.

50 Onyainu Ogah v Oche Awulu, Suit No MD/46A/1975 of 29/1/76 140 (Benue High Court) (unreported). See Ashiru (n 20) 321–322 for a fuller discussion of this case and its outcome.

51 Ashiru (n 20) 320.

52 ibid 321.

53 ibid.

54 A Taakpee v E Gipya, Suit No MD/15A/82 (Upper Area Court, Makurdi) (unreported).

55 Ashiru (n 20) 320, citing AP Anyebe, Customary Law: The War Without Arms (Fourth Dimension Publishing 1985), 32.

56 AB Ellis, The Yoruba-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Language, Etc. (Chapman and Hall 1984) 177.

57 Marriage Act 1914, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, cap M6.

58 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, cap M7 (MCA).

59 ‘Statutory marriage’ and ‘marriage under the Act’ will be used interchangeably to describe a marriage conducted in accordance with the Marriage Act.

60 See Re Adadevoh (1951) 13 WACA 304 (WACA).

61 MCA, ss 70, 72.

62 See Married Women’s Property Act 1882, s 17.

63 Many states in Nigeria have their own married women’s property laws which have the same wording as the 1882 Act. For example, Oyo State’s property law is the Married Women’s Property Law, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria 1978, cap 71.

64 Ashiru (n 20) 318.

65 See MCA, s 114(1)(a).

66 Ashiru (n 20) 325.

67 ‘What are Human Rights?’ (United Nations Office of the High Commissioner 2022) <www.ohchr.org/en/what-are-human-rights> accessed 5 January 2022.

68 The charter was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 and entered into force on 24 October 1945.

69 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948.

70 See the summary of the Women’s Convention prepared by the International Women’s Right Action Watch (1998), in CC Nwufor, ‘Rethinking Some Cultural Practices that Affect the Rights of Women and Children in Nigeria’ (2018) 2 Baze University Law Journal 226, 228.

71 Adopted in 1981 by the member states of the Organisation of African Unity, now known as the African Union.

72 Maputo Protocol, art 7(d).

73 For instance, the Administration of Estate Laws, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1970, and the Married Women’s Property Act 1882.

74 Nwogugu (n 20) 293; Ridwan I Olagunju ‘Concept of Maintenance: A Legal Analysis on the Tripartite Comparison’ 3 Kogi State University Bi-Annual Journal of Public Law 311, cited by Umukoro (n 32) 313.

75 Onokah (n 34) 145–50; Umukoro (n 32) 320.

76 Umukoro (n 32) 314.

77 Suit No WD/19/61 of 7/1/1963 (Lagos High Court) (unreported), cited in Onokah (n 34) 247.

78 Giwa v Giwa, Suit No WD/40/67 of 16/01/1970 (Lagos High Court) (unreported); see also the judgement of Thompson J in Akinsemoyin v Akinsemoyin (1971) NMLR 272, 275.

79 Okafor v Okafor, Suit No O/6D/71 (High Court of Eastern Nigeria) (unreported); cited by Umukoro (n 32) 314.

80 (1977) ZR 113 (High Court of Zambia, Kitwe District Registry).

81 TA Aguda, ‘An Examination of the Matrimonial Causes Decree 1970’ in Selected Lectures and Papers (Associated Publishers Nigeria Limited 1971) 89–125.

82 See Coker v Coker (n 31); Okafor v Okafor (n 79).

83 Akinsemoyin v Akinsemoyin (1971) NMLR 272, 275; Aguda (n 81).

84 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (England and Wales)

85 [2009] EWHC 891 (Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales).

86 ibid per Lord Nicholls [94(32)].

87 Okafor v Okafor (n 79); Mwiya v Mwiya (n 80).

88 Ashiru (n 20) 318; Nwufor (n 70) 242.

89 Nwogugu (n 20) 271.

90 Ashiru (n 20) 319.

91 (1986) 3 NWLR (Pt 27) 175 (Nigerian Court of Appeal (NCA)).

92 [1987] 3 NWLR (Pt 62) 697 (NCA).

93 Onokah (n 34) 147–71; Umukoro (n 32) 320.

94 Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, ‘Gender and Land Rights Database’ (FAO 2022) <www.fao.org/gender-landrights-database/data-map/statistics/en/> accessed 27 December 2021; LH Limann, ‘Widowhood Rites and Rights of Women in Africa: the Ugandan Experience’ (LLM thesis, University of Pretoria 2003), cited by Nwufor, (n 70) 229.

95 See Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) (CFRN), s 42(2), (3).

96 ibid s 42(1).

97 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana 1992 (CRG), s 17(2).

98 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (CRSA), s 9(3).

99 CFRN, s 1; see also CRSA, ss 1(c), 2; CRG, s 1(2).

100 CFRN, s 3; CRG, s 1(2).

101 Property (Rights of Spouses) Act No 4 2004.

102 (CCT 03/07) [2008] ZACC 9 (South African Constitutional Court (ZACC)).

103 ibid [39] – [42].

104 Bato Star Fishing (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Others (CCT 27/03) [2004] ZACC 15 (ZACC).

105 ibid [73] – [74].

106 (CCT 49/03) [2004] ZACC 17 (ZACC).

107 (2014) 11 NWLR (Pt 1418) 384 (SCN).

108 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990, cap 10.

109 General Sani Abacha v Chief Gani Fawehimi (2000) 4 NILR 28 (SCN).

110 ibid 301.

111 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990, cap 10, art 18(3).

112 The Women’s Convention, art 2(f).

113 ES and SC v United Republic of Tanzania, CEDAW/C/60/D/48/2013 Communication No 48/2013.

114 ibid, s 9(b)(ii).

115 [1994] 9 NWLR (Pt 368) 301 (SNC).

116 ibid 344–45 (Ogundare JSC).

117 Christa Rautenbach, ‘South African Common and Customary Law of Intestate Succession: A Question of Harmonisation, Integration or Abolition’ (2008) 12 Electronic Journal of Comparative Law 1, 8.

118 Nwufor (n 70) 235.

119 CRG, s 22(2).

120 ibid, s 22(3)(a).

121 ibid, s 22(3)(b).

122 Property Rights of Spouses Act 2004.

123 ibid, s 6(2).

124 Rautenbach (n 117) 1.

125 TW Bennett, Customary Law in South Africa (Juta and Company 2004) 43.

126 Rautenbach (n 117) 4.

127 ibid 1.

128 Act 120 of 1998 (Notice 1553, G 19539).

129 ‘Record of the Proceedings’ (African Conference on Local Courts and Customary Law, Dar es Salaam, September 1963) 26, 28.

130 The Law of Marriage Act No. 5 of 1971, as amended by Act 23/73, Act 15/80, and Act 9/96.

131 Rahmatian (n 10) 297.

132 Rahmatian (n 10) 298.

133 ibid.

134 LMA, s 43.

135 ibid, s 25.

136 ibid, s 76.

137 ibid, s 110.

138 Rahmatian (n 10) 300.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Samuel E. Ojogbo

Samuel E Ojogbo is an Associate Professor of Law at University of Delta, Nigeria.

Omerionwan K. Edu

OK Edu is a Professor of Law at Delta State University, Nigeria.