COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
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CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In Nigeria, as well as other jurisdictions, for example, United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ghana, South Africa, East Africa, just to mention but a few, there are many laws that are applicable to various subject matters or business. For example, we have criminal law, constitutional law, commercial law, law of evidence, company law etc. Conflict of law is one of such laws in the country that is taught just like it is taught in any of the countries we mentioned above.
Conflict of laws unlike the other kind of laws we mentioned above, is an aspect of international law. In other words, the laws we mentioned above are principally considered as municipal laws or local laws . Conflict of laws is a stoke of international law. In other words, it is a subsidiary of the international law. This is why it is called private international law .
Conflict of laws comes into play or becomes applicable when the issue of jurisdiction is in question. For example, if Mr. Z enters into contract for hiring of Mr. Y’s Peugeot station wagon to carry persons from Zaria to Lagos, on reaching Jeba, the car tumbled and as a result three persons out of the seven persons in the car died. Four other persons sustained serious injuries and they were rushed to Jeba General Hospital and given first
aid treatment. They were later taken to Lagos their hometown. Some few days after they were taken to Lagos, their injuries worsened and consequently they died also. The driver and the hirer of the car were sued in Lagos by heirs of the deceased persons for compensation under the Fatal Accident Law of Lagos .
Under this circumstance, there may be two separate sets of cases. Firstly, the claim of compensation for the first three persons who died in Jebba at the sport where the accident took place, secondly, the Lagos’ case. In all the two cases, the issue of jurisdiction may be germane and need to be settled before the substantive case for claiming of compensation is heard. For the example, with respect to the case filed in Lagos, the counsel to the hirer and driver may raise the issue that though the four persons died in Lagos, the place of accident was Jebba. Or, he may argue that the correct court where the case may be instituted is the place where the contract of carriage was entered into. These and many other arguments could take place in the court until the court resolves on the issue of jurisdiction before the substantive issues is heard. For the first hypothesis, i.e. in respect of the three persons that died in the accident, though, this may be easier than the second one, it also may raise jurisdictional problem. In this regard, which court will hear and determine the issue of compensation, the court in Jebba or the court in Zaria where the contract was entered for carrying the deceased persons to Lagos? These issues may need to be determined before the substantial case is heard.
As we have already said above, one of the preliminary issues to be determined is which law to be applied in cases where there are two laws bordering different legal system, In other words, a foreign law. For example, in the hypothetical case of motor accident, if the law of one jurisdiction is not as favourable as the law in another jurisdiction, the persons claiming compensations may argue for the application of the law which is more favourable to them. The Lagos law or the Jebba law?, The Jebba law or Zaria law? All these problems need to be settled before the court goes into the substance of the case. Another issue connected with the preliminary issues is the enforcement of foreign judgment.
All these above scenarios (and many others which could not be exhausted in this thesis) constitute the statement of problem of this research which is lack of certainty of the applicability of law of tort in conflict of laws situation in Nigeria. Indeed, the feature of conflict of laws could be present in all substantive branches of law. That is to say, every substantive law has its own conflict of laws questions or jurisprudence. Thus, the laws of torts, crime, contract, family and bankruptcy, to mention but a few, have their conflict of laws.
Against this backdrop, therefore, the objective of this research identified the major aspects of torts in the conflict of laws that formed the core of choice of law, with particular reference to Nigeria and further identified challenges involved there in. However, the major finding of this research was that there are certain areas of conflict of laws where the application of the rule in Phillips vs. Ayre (as the prevailing choice of law rule in Nigeria) is unsuitable to the Nigerian circumstances. In the comparative evaluation of the rules in the commonwealth countries and in America, the writer laid more emphasis on the view point that have practical relevance to each jurisdiction in order to satisfy the yearnings of a balanced determination of conflicts emanating from frictions arising out of the natural contact between individuals and interests.