Filling the Gaps Between Colonial Legal Heritage and Prevailing Local Customs in Family Relations: the Place of Secret Trust

Abstract

∗ LLB, LLM, PhD, BL; Senior Lecturer, Department of Private and Property Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos. 1 D. Hayton, ‘Developing the Law of Trusts for the Twenty-first Century’ [1990] L.Q.R. 106. Patriarchy is a socio-historical phenomenon of men as a dominant factor in societal power relations. Men in this sense have been found to have the crucial features of being authoritarian, unemotional and distant. These attributes are taken into their functions in the larger society where they are central to political, moral, filial, property authority and ultimately, a claim to superiority. J. Wall ‘Fatherhood, Childism, and the Creation of Society’ 75 (1) Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2007) 52−76; P. Horn ‘Where Is Feminism Now?’ 26 Agenda, Women in Local Government (1995) 26, 71–4; see also M. Humm The Dictionary of Feminist Theory, Prentice Hall, Harvester, Wheatsheaf (1995); M. Htun and S. Weldon ‘State Power, Religion, and Women’s Rights: A Comparative Analysis of Family Law’ 18 (1) Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies (2011) 145–65; A. Titkow ‘Do Men Have Their Own Glass Ceiling’ 172 Polish Sociological Review (2010) 391. It is noteworthy though, that Tikow’s study found (at least with respect to Poland) that women were their own problem in that men were more likely than women to shift position given certain indices. For some responses to the phenomenon of patriarchy, see for Nigeria, ‘The First National Implementation Plan for NV20: 2020 (2010– 2013)’ (Economic Transformation Blue Print, 1st October Publishing, available at www.1stoctober.com) 10; see further Article 3 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966, entry into force 2 January 1976; Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women, adopted by General Assembly resolution 34/180, entered into force 3 September 1981; Can T.S. 1982 No. 31 ratified by Nigeria 1985. Nigeria further signed the optional protocol in 2000 and ratified it in 2004. However, section 12 of the Nigerian Constitution requires further action for these treaties and covenants to become law in Nigeria, which has not been undertaken. Other relevant responses are: Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993 – see, in particular, the preamble; Article 18(3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights ratified by Nigeria as Cap A9 No.2 Laws of the Federation 2004 and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.