Attitudes Towards Succession Law in Nigeria During the Colonial Period

The interesting case of Yinusa v. Adesubokan, reported in this issue of the Journal, provides us with an authoritative answer to a question which has long perplexed students of succession law in Nigeria: can a person whose personal law is that of Islam, by electing to make a will under the Wills Act, 1837, thereby deprive his heirs of what they would be entitled to receive were Islamic law to apply to the distribution of the estate? The answer given is that he cannot. This question, which, as is indicated in the judgment, has not been the subject of previous judicial decisions, may not be one which in recent years has aroused any very great passions. Nevertheless, it is one which some thirty years ago was argued among members of the Colonial Service—administrative officers and legal officers—with a surprising fervour and intensity.