History of Nigerian legal profession

This has to do with the history of the legal profession. In August 1860 Lagos was ceded to the Queen of England as a result Lagos became a British colony. Therefore all laws applicable in England became applicable to Lagos, and in 1863 the Supreme Court Ordinance was promulgated to the colony. It provided inter-alia “that the laws of England shall have the same force and be administered in this settlement as in England so far as such laws and such administration thereof can be rendered applicable to the circumstances of this settlement.

The problem of this legal system was that there was shortage of qualified personnel to man the court and shortage of court facilities which led to the employment of lay-men without the knowledge of the law to man the legal process. As at 1862, there were 7 magistrates – 3 were barristers, 2 were writing clerks, 1 was a merchant and 1 was a commander of the West Indian Garrison in Lagos. To solve this problem, the Supreme Court Ordinance of 1876 was promulgated for the admission of persons to practice as legal practitioners in Nigeria.

This Ordinance provided for three (3) categories of persons that could practice, namely:

1)      Those entitled to practice in Great Britain or Ireland - section 71 of the Ordinance;

2)      Those who have served as articles – section 73 of the Ordinance; and

3)      Local Attorneys – section 74 of the Ordinance.

Today, due to the Legal Practitioner’s Act, three categories of persons can now practice, namely:

1)      Those entitled to practice generally whose names are on the rolls;

2)      Those entitled to practice for the purpose of any particular office; and

3)      Those entitled to practice by warrants for the purpose of any particular proceedings.

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