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Supreme Court · 1985
Can the State be held answerable for a breach of fundamental rights committed by its agents?
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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.
The question the court actually had to answer. Everything a judgment settles flows from this, and nothing beyond it does.
Can the State be held answerable for a breach of fundamental rights committed by its agents?
Proceedings were brought following the destruction of property and injury arising from the conduct of soldiers.
The claim raised whether the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution could be enforced against the State in respect of that conduct.
The Supreme Court affirmed that fundamental rights are enforceable, and addressed the State's answerability for the acts of its agents.
It discussed the nature of a fundamental right as one that stands above ordinary legislation.
Stated narrowly, as the case is genuinely cited for — not stretched into the broader proposition it is often summarised as.
Fundamental rights are enforceable against the State, and are of a different order from rights conferred by ordinary legislation.
Our explanation of what the decision means for an ordinary reader. It is not the judgment.
The Constitution's rights are not promises the government makes to itself. They can be enforced in court against the government and the people acting for it.
That is the foundation the whole fundamental rights enforcement procedure rests on — without it, Chapter IV would be a list of good intentions.
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: Human Rights