The Lagos State Judiciary is one of the three co-equal branches of the

Lagos State Government Lagos State Government is the government of Lagos State, concerned with the administration of the state ministries. The government consists of the executive, legislative and Judiciary. The government is headed by the Governor who is the policy-maker ...

organized under the

Constitution of Nigeria The Constitution of Nigeria is the written supreme law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigeria has had many constitutions. Its current form was enacted on 29 May 1999 and inaugurated the Fourth Nigerian Republic. History Nigeria's st ...

and laws of Lagos State. The Chief Judges are appointed by the

State Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

with the consent of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

Courts

The

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

courts comprises three levels of courts. The high court is the court of last resort before the

Supreme Court of Nigeria The Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN) is the highest court in Nigeria, and is located in the Central District, Abuja, in what is known as the Three Arms Zone, so called due to the proximity of the offices of the Presidential Complex, the National Ass ...

. It is generally an

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

that operates under discretionary review, meaning that the Court can choose which cases to hear, by granting of

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

s of

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

. Other levels of court include the

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

s and the Customary Court.

Judicial Service Commission

The

Judiciary also consists of a Judicial Service Commission which statutory duties includes the promotion and appointment of judicial staffs as well as other disciplinary function. The

Chief Judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...

serves as the commission's chairman. Other distinguish members of the Judiciary include the

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of Lagos State Attorney-General and Lagos State

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

for Justice, Commissioner for Justice. The Chief Registrar serves as the head of administration and

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

to the judiciary.

History

The Lagos State Judiciary was the first established

Judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and formerly known as Colony Province Judiciary. Magistrate court was the first to be established among others. It was established before the High court, that was formerly referred to as the Supreme Court but and its

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

was localized. The establishment of the Magistrate court give birth to the High court, the then Lagos State Supreme Court. When the

was founded, the Lagos Supreme Court metamorphosed into High Court of the Federal Territory Lagos with concurrent appointment of John Taylor as the Chief judge. On May 27, 1967, the same year

was formed, the High Court and the Magistrate Court of the Federal

Territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

were merged to form the Lagos State Judiciary under the Leadership of John Taylor, the pioneer Chief Judge of

. Taylor's tenure elapsed on November 7, 1973, and was succeeded by Justice Joseph Adefarasin following his appointment that took effect on November 1, 1974. He served in that capacity for 9 years until April 24, 1985, when is tenure ended. He was succeeded by Justice Candide Ademola Johnson, appointed on April 25, 1985, a day after Justice Joseph left the office. He spent 4 years in office and Justice Ligali Ayorinde succeeded him on July 10, 1989 .He served in that capacity for 6 years, between July 1989 to April 1995. In August 2014,

Oluwafunmilayo Olajumoke Atilade Oluwafunmilayo Olajumoke Atilade (born 24 September 1952) is a Nigerian Jurist and former Chief Judge of Lagos State. She was formerly a judge at the High Court of Lagos State. Background Oluwafunmilayo Olajumoke Williams was born on 24 Septemb ...

was appointed as the

, sworn in by

Ade Ipaye Adeola Rahman Ipaye (born 8 June 1963) is a Nigerian lawyer who is currently the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari. He was also Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, among oth ...

, the Attorney General of Lagos State. She was succeeded by Hon Justice Opeyemi Oke appointed, and thereafter sworn in and confirmed on the 20th October 2017 by the then

Governor of Lagos state The governor of Lagos State is the head of government of Lagos State in Nigeria. The governor leads the executive branch of the Lagos State Government. This position places its holder in leadership of the state with command authority over th ...

, His excellency Mr

Akinwunmi Ambode Akinwunmi Ambode (born 14 June 1963) is a Nigerian politician who served as Governor of Lagos State from 2015 to 2019. He was a civil servant for 27 years and a financial consultant before running for public office. Ambode ran for office of th ...

as the 6th female judge of

Lagos state Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

. In accordance with Section 271 (1) and (4) of the 1999

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), His Excellency Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu,

Governor of Lagos State The governor of Lagos State is the head of government of Lagos State in Nigeria. The governor leads the executive branch of the Lagos State Government. This position places its holder in leadership of the state with command authority over th ...

appointed Honourable

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Kazeem O. Alogba as the 17th

Chief Judge of Lagos State The Chief Judge of Lagos State is the head of the Lagos State Judiciary, the judicial branch of the Lagos State Government and the chief judge of the High Court of Lagos State. From 1967 to 1973, the title was called Chief Justice of the Suprem ...

with effect from Tuesday 11 June 2019, in acting capacity, pending the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and subsequent confirmation of the

Lagos State House of Assembly The Lagos State House of Assembly is the state legislature of Lagos State. It is situated along Governor's Avenue in the state capital, Ikeja. The House of Assembly is currently under the All Progressives Congress political party which is the cu ...

. In 2020,during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

,the Lagos state judiciary held its first virtual court proceedings led by chief judge Kazeen Alogba.

Restorative justice

Restorative justice is an approach to justice where one of the responses to a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

is to organize a meeting between the victim and the offender, sometimes with representatives of the wider community. The goal is for them to share their

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

of what happened, to discuss who was harmed by the crime and how, and to create a consensus for what the offender can do to repair the

harm Harm is a moral and legal concept. Bernard Gert construes harm as any of the following: * pain * death * disability *mortality * loss of abil ity or freedom * loss of pleasure. Joel Feinberg gives an account of harm as setbacks to intere ...

from the offense. This may include a payment of money given from the offender to the victim, apologies and other amends, and other actions to compensate those affected and to prevent the offender from causing future harm. On November 30, 2021, the

affirmed its commitment to the Restorative System of Justice with a pledge to launch a Restorative Justice Centre.

References

{{Reflist Judiciary of Lagos State Lagos State law