DOUBLE-DECKER MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA: ISSUES, PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

DOUBLE-DECKER MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA: ISSUES, PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
ABSTRACT

It has become a common practice in Nigeria for parties who intend to contract a statutory marriage to marry first under customary law before the solemnization of the statutory marriage. This practice may be explained by the fact that though Western civilization and culture have permeated Nigerian society, most people, even the most sophisticated understandably regard themselves as bound by the customary law of their place of origin. The Nigerian Marriage Act has given validity to this practice by enabling who are married under Customary Law to marry each other under the statute.

Some legal questions arise from this practice. It is uncertain whether the statutory marriage supersedes, for all intent and purposes, the previous customary-law marriage, or if the customary law marriage is merely put into abeyance to retrieve after the subsequent statutory marriage has come to an end. There is also the question of whether both marriages co-exist.

The purpose of this project will be to examine all this questions and the position of such marriages and the associated problems in Nigeria.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0.0 INTRODUCTION 

In every community, marriage is considered imperative because it is the foundation upon which the society is founded. Although, marriage has no universally acceptable definition, hence it is dynamic in the sense that it cut across jurisdictions, race and tribes and the definition to be given to the concept will depend very much on the social and religious beliefs of a particular society. Marriage could be said to be the basis of the legal family, the leaned author, E.I. Nwogugu defined marriage as;

“Marriage is a universal institution which is recognised and respected all over the world as a social institution, marriage is founded on and governed by the social and religious norms of society”1

The fact being stressed here is that there is an element of divinity in the concept of marriage. This fact is evident in the Holy bible when it says thus „a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall leave unto his wife and they shall become one flesh‟2. The sanctity of marital institution is also traced to the Qur‟an, the holy book of faithful

Muslims where it was said that „marry (other) women of your choice, two or three or four, but if you fear that you shall be able to do justice (with them) then only one‟3 Double-Decker marriage is nowhere defined in the marriage Act. The dictionary meaning of double-decker however is a vehicle with two decks or a sandwich with two layers of filling. The illustration created is this view is different or separate compartment but is the same bus and piloted by the same driver or separate layers of filling accommodation in one loaf. When one applies this illustration to the issue of marriage, a double-decker marriage would mean two validly permissible marriages contracted by the same person. Statutorily, Section 33 (1) of the Marriage Act (MA) states thus:

“No marriage in Nigeria shall be valid here either of the parties thereto at the time of the celebrities of such marriage is married under customary law to only person other than the person with whom such marriage is had”4 Basically in Nigeria, the two forms of marriage a couple contracts simultaneously are also customary law marriage and statutory marriage. This is permissible under Section 33 (1) MA and by this section it can only be between the same person. Although double-decker marriage is not expressly provided for under the law, but can be implied by applying literal and golden canon of interpretation of statute. Hence, double-decker marriage was impliedly created under the law in Nigeria.

1.1.0 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The essence of marriage in the society cannot be overemphasised, as some marry for the sake of children, some marry to fulfil sexual urge. In advanced country, it is a common phenomenon to see people engage in “contractual marriage” i.e marriage agreement either for months, years or for a specific period. In fact men marry men and women marry women. In Nigeria, apart from statutory marriage, the other form of marriage is customary marriage. The basic feature of statutory marriage is marriage according to the provision of common law which customary marriage is marriage according to the tradition. In between these two, there appear what we call “a batlike” marriage otherwise known as double-decker marriage. The issue now is, what is the essence of wasting money on the same marriage twice despite the economic problem prevalent in our country, both socio-cultural and economic associate the double-decker marriage as a pointer to the final associated problem which serves as the basic background for this project.                       

Therefore, what are the issues, problem and is there any prospect in this double-decker marriage. What is the essence of such marriage since the court has held in Jadesimi v. Okotiebo5 that the status of customary marriage is also statutorily recognised in Nigeria.

Department: Law
Format: Microsoft Word

Chapters: 1 - 5, Preliminary Pages, Abstract,  Bibliography.
Delivery: Email

No. of Pages: 84

Price: 3000 NGN

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