Legal Effects Of Customary Law Marriage In Nigeria

The conflict in customary law is a theme that permeates the history of colonialism in Nigeria and indeed Africa. It is a fact that, global interaction has created a world of cultural evolution among nations but in our situation, the many years of subservient relationship with our colonial and slave masters had eroded our traditional safeguards against the adoption of cultural waste that are dumped on us, thereby inheriting two societies that are cumbersome and oftentimes pose as an economic burden.

The customary marriage has suffered the same fate just like all other good things that give us identity as a people. Our customary marriage has been subordinated to statutory marriage to fulfil the so-called “civilisation mission” of our colonial masters. And in some countries like South Africa, customary marriages were at some point not recognised owing to their polygamous nature .

The non-recognition of customary marriages sometimes in this country (South Africa) led to severe hardship, in that children from such marriages were not regarded as legitimate and wives of customary marriages were not given the same status as wives from civil marriages in matters of intestate succession and maintenance . This continued for years until The South African Law Reform Commission wrote several Discussion Papers and made proposals regarding the recognition of customary marriages which said agitations gave birth to The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998 which then recognised customary marriages.this essay discusses the legal effect of customary marriages in nigeria