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, Lagos State House of Assembly, legislative and Lagos State Judiciary, Judiciary. The go ...

organized under the

Constitution of Nigeria A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

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, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

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 g ...

Courts

The

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

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 An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...

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

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

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 a prerogative writ in England, issued by a superior court to direct that the recor ...

. 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 judi ...

s and the Customary Court. The Lagos state Court has online filling system that makes the process eas

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 of Lagos State, Chief Judge serves as the commission's chairman. Other distinguish members of the Judiciary include the

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

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 incl ...

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 Certif ...

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, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

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' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

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 27 May 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, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

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

. Taylor's tenure elapsed on 7 November 1973, and was succeeded by Justice

Joseph Adefarasin Joseph Adetunji Adefarasin (24 April 1921 – 28 March 1989) was a Nigerian lawyer and High Court judge. He was one of the foremost students of Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos from 1932 to 1939 and studied law at University of London from 1946 to 19 ...

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

Oluwafunmilayo Olajumoke Atilade Oluwafunmilayo Olajumoke "Funmilayo" Atilade ( Williams; 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 Willia ...

was appointed as the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Chief Judge, sworn in by

Ade Ipaye Adeola Rahman Ipaye (born 8 June 1963) is a Nigerian lawyer who served as the deputy chief of staff to the president of Nigeria ( office of the vice president) from 2015 to 2023. He was also attorney general and commissioner for justice in La ...

, the

Attorney General of Lagos State The Attorney General of Lagos State also known as Lagos State Commissioner for Justice is the head of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced". The ...

. She was succeeded by Hon Justice Opeyemi Oke appointed, and thereafter sworn in and confirmed on 20 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 the ...

, 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 ...

as the 6th female judge of

Lagos state Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

. 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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

of the

Federal Republic of Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics 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 the ...

appointed Honourable

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Kazeem O. Alogba as the 17th Chief Judge of Lagos State 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 cur ...

. In 2020,during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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

Restorative justice

Restorative justice Restorative justice is a community-based approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims, offenders and communities. In doing so, restorative justice practitioners work to ensure that offenders take responsibility for their ac ...

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, definiti ...

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

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 morality, moral and law, legal concept with multiple definitions. It generally functions as a synonym for evil or anything that is bad under certain moral systems. Something that causes harm is harmful, and something that does not is har ...

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 30 November 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