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Court of Appeal · 1991
What is the difference between a human right and a fundamental right as the Constitution uses the term?
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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.
What is the difference between a human right and a fundamental right as the Constitution uses the term?
The proceedings raised whether a complaint fell within the fundamental rights the Constitution makes specially enforceable, or was an ordinary claim.
The Court of Appeal drew the distinction: human rights belong to a person by virtue of being human, while fundamental rights are those the Constitution has entrenched and made enforceable by a special procedure.
Stated narrowly, as the case is genuinely cited for — not stretched into the broader proposition it is often summarised as.
Not every human right is a fundamental right; the special enforcement procedure is available only for rights the Constitution has entrenched.
Our explanation of what the decision means for an ordinary reader. It is not the judgment.
This distinction decides which door you go through. A Chapter IV right gets the fast, special enforcement procedure in the High Court. A wrong that is not one of those rights is an ordinary claim, brought the ordinary way.
People often file a fundamental rights application for a complaint that is really a contract or property dispute, and it is struck out — not because the complaint is worthless, but because it was brought through the wrong door.
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