Hierarchy of Courts in Nigeria

The hierarchy of the courts in Nigeria are as follows:

1. Supreme Court

2. Court of Appeal

3. Federal High Courts

4. High Courts of the states

5. Customary Courts of Appeal

6. Sharia Court of Appeal

In addition to the above, the constitution of the country gave power to the states to establish such other courts as they may require. In exercise of that constitutional power, the Magistrate Courts, the Customary Courts, the District Courts and the Area courts have been established by states that require their use.

Each court, whether a superior court of record or not is established by a particular statute and the statute so establishing them sets out their powers, authorities and limitations. The method and procedure of enforcing, asserting and claiming legal rights in them are in some cases expressly set out in the statute creating the courts. In some cases, powers are conferred on such persons or authority to make rules of practice and procedure for the courts. Such rules of practice and procedure become part of the powers and authority of the courts.

The rules of practice of the courts are usually codified and set out distinctly. In some cases, the rules of practice and procedure may be made to cover and strictly regulate the legal procedures and other matters of the particular court. In other cases, the rules of practice and procedure are made to cover and regulate a particular subject matter.

The general pattern of the rules of practice and procedure is to divide the entire rules of practice and procedure into “Orders”. Each Order deals with a specific basic head of a subject matter. For example, order 1 of a particular rule may deal with commencement of an action in that court, order 2 may deal with parties to an action, order 3 may deal with service of processes, etc.

Each of the Orders is divided into “Rules”. Each of the rules gives a better detail of the Order. For example, where a particular Order deals with parties to an action, the rule 1 of that Order may deal with parties generally, Rule 2 may deal with representative parties, rule 3 may deal with substitution of parties, rule 4 may deal with intervening parties, etc.

If it becomes necessary, the rule is divided into “Sub rules” or “Paragraphs” or both. The Sub rules and Paragraphs deal in greater detail with the subject matter of the Order.

Note that each court created by a statute will normally have its own rules of practice and procedure.