![handle is hein.journals/commwlb46 and id is 1 raw text is:
Commonwealth Law Bulletin, 2020 Routledge
Vol. 46, No. 1, 3-26, https://doi.org/10.1080/03050718.2020.1731696 Taylor& Francis Group
With all My worldly possessions I thee wed: Nigerian courts
and the exercise of discretionary justice in property ownership
disputes in marriage and divorce
Oluwakemi Mary Adekile*
Department of Private and Property Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos,
Lagos, Nigeria
The question of title to property between married couples remains intract-
able in Nigeria's social context. Ownership is addressed by Nigerian courts
in a discretionary framework devoid of a cohesive conceptualization. By
reviewing cases in Nigeria and England the paper finds that the exercise of
discretionary justice is a 'cold legal question' and defective in granting a
realistic outcome. A different approach is germane to achieve justice in fam-
ily law. It concludes that the extant judicial approach is at variance with the
marital vow 'with all my worldly possessions I thee wed' which imports
unity of assets in the social psyche of parties.
1. Introduction
Couples marrying under the Marriage Act' in Nigeria make a vow 'with all my
worldly possession I thee wed.' Is the marriage vow of legal import such as to
produce joint assets in the married couple? Do decisions on assets sharing incul-
cate the partnership perspective implicit in this vow? When the question of title to
property arises between couples how is it determined? Is there a concept of
'family assets', 'joint assets', 'marital assets' or the like in Nigeria? Is the answer
a 'cold legal question',2 'crude and simplistic'3 or an equitable one? Is there a
legal framework that accommodates the philosophy of the vow? What lessons can
we learn from English courts? How do courts determine these questions? The val-
ues to attach to the claims by married couples are intricately interwoven with
socio-cultural issues, fairness and equity in the quest for appropriate situation of
beneficial interest. The purpose of this paper is to address these nagging questions
with respect to statutory marriage in Nigeria. To this end, the paper will examine
the socio-economic/cultural context of marriage, spousal property relationship and
family patterns and the attendant context challenges evident in Nigeria; discuss
the legal concepts utilized as vehicles for allocation of property rights in the dis-
pute resolution system such as property law, equity, trusts, and promissory estop-
pel while it articulates the limits of these concepts; evaluate the intricacies of
*Email: kemiadekile@yahoo.com
'Cap M6 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
2Gissing v Gissing [1969] All ER 1043(CA) (Lord Justice Edmunds Davies); [1970] 2
All ER 780 (HL).
3lbid.
C 2020 Commonwealth Secretariat](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/commwlb46&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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