AN ANALYTICAL COMPARATIVE EXAMINATION OF THE OFFENCE OF BIGAMY UNDER THE NIGERIAN AND INDIAN LAW

The paper undertakes an examination of the Comparative Family Law in juxtaposition with Comparative Criminal Law in the Nigerian and Indian legal systems particularly, on the family law of bigamy. This was with a view to understanding the concepts, nature and extent of enforcement of the law as well as provoking a symbiotic approach towards legal practice with regard to maintenance of the law on bigamous offences in these jurisdictions.

The study relied on primary and secondary sources of information. The primary comprised the major legislations creating the offence of bigamy and analogous offences in Nigeria which are the Criminal Code Act 2004, the Nigerian Penal Code Act 2004, the Matrimonial Causes Act 2004 and the Marriage Act 2004; compared with those of the India comprising of the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, and other legislations particularly the Christian Marriage Act 1872; Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act 1936; Special Marriage Act 1954; and Foreign Marriage Act 1969 especially the aspect relating to bigamous offences. Other primary source relied upon were unstructured interviews, and judicial decisions. The secondary source included books, journal articles, blog publication, conference proceedings, newspapers and magazines as well as the internet. Data collected were subjected to content analysis.

The study found that adequate provisions of law are available, in the Nigerian and Indian family systems, for protection of statutory marriage against bigamy and bigamous related offences. It also found that, for certainty and stability, most couples patronise statutory marriage which is potentially monogamous, but, greed, covetousness and other socio-economic factors have always worked against this noble objective. The writers insist that an adoption of uniform civil code of personal laws is key to advancement of family law, in both legal systems.