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Supreme Court · 1986
Can a domestic disciplinary body determine allegations that amount to criminal conduct?
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Can a domestic disciplinary body determine allegations that amount to criminal conduct?
Students were expelled by their university following disturbances, on allegations that amounted to criminal conduct.
The disciplinary process was carried out by the institution's own panel rather than by a court.
The Supreme Court set the expulsions aside.
It held that where allegations against a person amount to a crime, it is for a court — not a domestic tribunal — to determine guilt, and that the right to a fair hearing applies to the process.
Stated narrowly, as the case is genuinely cited for — not stretched into the broader proposition it is often summarised as.
A domestic disciplinary panel cannot determine allegations of criminal conduct; that is the function of a court, and fair hearing applies throughout.
Our explanation of what the decision means for an ordinary reader. It is not the judgment.
If your school, employer or association accuses you of something that is actually a crime, it cannot sit as a court and find you guilty of it. That is a job for the courts.
The institution may still have its own disciplinary rules for conduct short of crime — but the more the allegation looks like a criminal charge, the less a private panel can do about it.
The part most summaries leave out, and the part that most often causes a case to be cited for something it never decided.
Named generally. Read the official text of any instrument you intend to rely on.
This decision is reported in the Nigerian law reports. Locate it by its case name in a law report series or through the court's own record, and read the judgment before relying on it.
Subject area: Education