Criminal Code Act (Southern States), 1916
The Criminal Code Act applies primarily to the Southern States of Nigeria and was enacted in 1916 during the colonial era. Derived from the Queensland Criminal Code in Australia, it codifies criminal offences and procedures for the southern regions. The Act defines offences against public order, offences against morality, offences relating to property, and offences against the person including murder, manslaughter, assault, and sexual offences. It also establishes defences such as self-defence, necessity, and provocation.
Legal area: Law relating to offences against the state and public order, including substantive criminal offences and criminal procedure.
Year enacted: 1916
Full text: https://lawsofnigeria.placng.org/laws/criminal-code-act.html
Key Provisions
- Part V: Offences against public order, including unlawful assembly and sedition
- Part VIII: Offences against the person, including murder, manslaughter, and assault
- Part X: Offences against morality, including rape and indecent assault
- Part XIV: Offences against property, including stealing, burglary, and robbery
- Section 318: Definition of murder and circumstances reducing to manslaughter
- Section 32: Provocation as a defence to homicide
Significance
The Criminal Code Act is the foundation of criminal law in Southern Nigerian states. Together with the Penal Code applicable in the North, it creates a dual criminal law system. The Act has been supplemented by numerous federal and state statutes, including the ACJA 2015, but remains the primary code for substantive criminal offences in the South.