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A MAGISTRATE COURT IS ESTABLISHED UNDER THE CONSTITUTION

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A distinction has to be drawn between a court established directly by the Constitution and a court established under the Constitution. The Magistrates’ Courts belong to the latter category. Magistrates’ Courts are established pursuant to powers donated to the states by the Constitution. See section 4(6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as altered which provides: S. 4(6): “The legislative powers of a State of the Federation shall be vested in the House of Assembly of the State.” The Magistrates’ Court Law of Oyo State which created or established the Magistrates’ Court as conceded by learned counsel for the respondent is a law made pursuant to section 4(6) of the Constitution. The Magistrates’ Court is established under the Constitution and is therefore subject to section 294(1) of the Constitution.

— Ngwuta JSC. The State v. Monsurat Lawal (SC. 80/2004, 15 Feb 2013)

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MAGISTRATE COURT IS TO DELIVER JUDGEMENT WITHIN TIMEFRAME SET BY THE CONSTITUTION

In any case, section 294(1) of the Constitution is intended to ensure that a court delivers its judgment before the lapse of human memory. Those who preside over the Magistrates’ Court have no claim to better and longer memory than the Judges of Superior Courts, nor can there be a double standard of justice delivery, one in the lower and the other in the High Courts.

— Ngwuta JSC. The State v. Monsurat Lawal (SC. 80/2004, 15 Feb 2013)