1.1 Introduction
Customary law consists of the traditional usage which a community considers as binding. The level of development and sophistication of the machinery of justice in the traditional societies in Nigeria at the advent of the colonial rule varied from place to place. Each community had its system of administration of justice designed or modelled to ensure stability of the society and maintenance of social coexistence. Even though the colonial masters abolished some of the practices and usages prevalent in Nigeria traditional communities which they termed as inimical and offensive, they nevertheless endorsed the retention of some aspects of customary law for the settlement of disputes among the natives.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Customary laws vary from community to community but, there is a level of uniformity in principle and practice. The major principle or feature of customary laws is their ability to develop and modify themselves in response to social, cultural and economic changes.
Marriage is universally accepted to be an institution governed by the social and religious norms of the society. It is a union between a man and a woman4. It is apt to state that marriage as an institution has been in existence from time immemorial. It can be traced back to the creation of man and is considered to have spiritual, moral and social significance in the society. It is therefore revered as sacred and thus heavily guarded by various religions, traditions, social norms and laws alike.5
In Nigeria, the sanctity of marriage cuts across all regions of the country regardless of culture and religion. The major types of marriage that existed in the pre-colonial era were the culture/traditional marriage and the Islamic/Maliki marriage.6 The type of marriage practiced was determined by the prevalent traditions or religions which governed the society where the parties live and/ or where they originated from.
Divorce or dissolution of marriage on the other hand is sometimes considered to be an abomination because it is perceived to whittle away the sanctity of marriage. The outright discouragement of divorce by all society forces creates unfair double standards, denial and religious apathy; for example, the law against bigamy, a frequent occurrence among men, including those professing Christianity, has never been involved; also the acceptance of concubines in the traditional Nigerian culture is accepted by both men and women alike.
Furthermore, various traditions and religions have also been known to condone divorce by means as simple as a unilateral action of returning the bride price to the parents of the bride; by simply professing divorce by word of mouth three times
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Customary Law Arbitration on Customary Law Marriage Divorce Proceedings in Eastern Nigeria.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Generally, customary courts have the jurisdiction to entertain cases of customary law marriage divorce but sometimes, magistrate court hear such matters, especially if there are no customary courts established in the locality customary law of which is no issue.14 The problem associated with this method is the usual delay in court proceedings. Also where the courts refuse to grant the decree, parties may resort to non-judicial divorce to dissolve the marriage.
It has been conceived that generally, customary law has no standardized and strict grounds for dissolution of marriage as the custom of each locality include the accepted grounds on which marriage may be ended.
Under customary law, there are no particular grounds for divorce. Emphasis is usually placed on the fact that a marriage has failed and the fault of a party is considered usually for purpose of when repayment of the bride price is to be made. A list of factors can be identified as moral causes for dissolving customary marriages. These include; adultery (particularly by the wife) lose character, impotency of the husband or sterility of the wife, laziness, ill treatment and cruelty, leprosy or other harmful diseases which may affect procreation, witchcraft, addiction to crime and desertion16
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Impact of Customary Law Arbitration on Customary Law Marriage Divorce Proceedings in Eastern Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To determine the effect of the customary law perspectives of divorce proceedings;
- To assess the requirement of a valid customary marriage;
- To examine the cause of divorce proceedings among married couples in Eastern Nigeria;
- To investigate the consequences of divorce proceedings among married couples in Eastern Nigeria;
- To examine the relevance of customary law arbitration on customary law marriage divorce proceedings in eastern Nigeria.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Is there significant impact of customary law arbitration towards customary law marriage divorce proceedings in eastern Nigeria?
- Are there consequences of divorce proceedings among married couples in Eastern Nigeria?
- What are the effects of the customary law perspectives of divorce proceedings?
- What are the requirements of a valid customary marriage?
- What are the causes of divorce proceedings among married couples in Eastern Nigeria?
1.6 Significance of Study
The relevance of this study is stated as follows;
- This study will be of great important to counsellors, married people, intending couples, social workers, teachers and the society at large.
- It will expose the counsellors to causes and effects of divorce. This will help them in handling divorce problems which may arise from their clients.
- The study will also expose married people to effects of divorce and widen their knowledge which will help them in preserving their marriage and make more stable homes in their family.
- The study will expose intending couples to causes of divorce and the knowledge will help them to make up their mind on what/who they want as life partner.
- To the social workers, the research work will expose them to the causes and effects of divorce and with the knowledge of this will help them in handling divorce issues with care.
- The study will help teachers to know who they will handle children from divorce since they know what they are passing through and give them adequate attention in class and in school environment as they are prone to deviant behaviours, health, psychological and emotional problems.
- The society will benefit from the study as they will be exposed to causes and effects of divorce, this will reduce the consequences of divorce.
1.8 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Impact of Customary Law Arbitration on Customary Law Marriage Divorce Proceedings in Eastern Nigeria.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
