WHAT IS THE MEANING OF JUDICIARY

The black’s law dictionary, defines judiciary as “the branch of government responsible for interpreting the laws and administering justice”[1]
        The dictionary of the social sciences, defines judiciary thus “the term judiciary designates a judicial system, comprehending structure and jurisdiction of courts, appointment and tenure of judges and judicial proceedings. In current usage the term judiciary specifically refers to the function of the judge in judicial process.”[2]
        Similarly, in his book, Nwabueze gives a broader definition as follows:


“The judiciary refers to the whole body of lawyers who preside at the courts. The term therefore embraces judges of the superior courts and those of the junior courts, Magistrates and district judges.”[3]

        Judiciary may be defined simply as a system of courts of law and the judges. This definition includes, in this regard, any person duly appointed to preside over a cause or matter.
Judiciary, as we use to hear, is one of the branches governments which is treated as “the judicature” under Chapter VII of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
        Judiciary covers the personnel and institutions through which the laws of country are interpreted in the determination of the rights and obligations of the citizens as well as that of the government. It is, without doubt, said to be the last hope for the common man in whatever system of government that is in place. This actually gingered the mind of honourable Justice Nnamani when he said:

“It has been generally acknowledged that the judiciary is the guardian of our constitution the protector of our cherished governance under the rule of law, the guardian of our fundamental rights, the enforcer of all laws without which the stability of society can be threatened, the maintainer of public order and public security, the guarantee against arbitrariness and generally the only insurance for a just and happy society.”[4]

For proper understanding and appreciation, we cannot talk about the judiciary without looking at what we mean by ‘judicial powers’. The Black’s Law Dictionary.[5] Defines judicial powers as:
The authority vested in courts and judges to hear and decide cases and to make binding judgments on them; the power to construe and apply the law when controversies arise over what has been done or not done under it. Under federal law, the power is vested in the U. S. Supreme Court and in whatever inferior courts congress establishes.

        Similarly, in the U.S case of MUSKRAT V. UNITED STATES,[6] court defined it as
“The right to determine actual controversies arising between diverse litigants duly instituted in courts of proper jurisdiction.”

Coming back home, our own Supreme Court of Nigeria, also, had in the case of SENATOR ABRAHAM ADESANYA V. PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA[7] given its own impression of what is judicial power”. The Apex Court said:
The words judicial powers as used in Constitution means the power which every sovereign authority must of necessity have to decide controversies between its subjects, or between itself and its subjects, Whether the rights relate to life, liberty or property. The exercise of this power does not begin until some tribunal which has power to give a binding authoritative decision (whether subject to appeal or not) is called upon to take decision.

        The totality of the power given to the Nigerian courts is so wide that it covers judicial review of the acts of the other arms of government. In fact, the power goes to the extent that the legislature is prevented from making laws that may tamper with court’s jurisdiction.
The judiciary, according to the Hon. Justice C. A. Oputa is by nature of its function and role the citizens’ last line of defence in a free society, that is, the line separating constitutionalism from totalitarianism. The court is thus a significant theatre where the battles over infringement of rights and denials of freedom are vigorously fought out. But, the courts act only when these issues are before them; this is after people have exercised their rights and gone or are brought to court to justify their action. The activists are thus the first line of defence. Those who become litigant in court form the second line of defence. Then lawyers form the third line with juries and jurors forming the fourth line. The media, exercising communication skills to inform public opinion, form the fifth line. The courts become the sixth and final line of defence. If this line of defence is overrun, then, one is safe anymore. The first act of any dictator always is to silence the courts. As the Honorable Justice Thurgord Marshall once observe;
Tyranny cannot flourish where government recognize the worth of every individual, as the courts do every time they resolve a law suit” (peace through law).

        The judiciary deals with the people and their individual problems in law suits. If the laws passed by the legislature are inequitable or are contrary to the constitution, then judges are likely to be the first to know since they are the ones called upon to send innocent accused person to prison or deny legal claims which in justice should be granted. Without the judiciary, neither can there scarcely be any effective challenge to oppressive laws nor can there be any check at all, on laws that offend the constitution or that derogate from the fundamental rights of the citizen. The judiciary is the might fortress against tyrannous and oppressive laws. It is the judiciary that has to ensure that the state is subject to the law; that the government respects the right of the individual under the law, example under the constitution. The courts adjudicate between the citizens inter se and also between the citizen and the state. The courts, therefore, have to ensure that he administrator conforms to the law; they have also to adjudicate upon the legality of the exercise of executive power. The importance of the judiciary, in a free and democratic society, cannot, therefore, be over-estimated probably due to lack of understanding of its role. It is not an over statement to assert that an independent judiciary is the greatest asset of a free people.



[1] The Black’s Law Dictionary, Ninth Edition, Edited by Bryan A. Garner, p.294
[2] The Living Webster Encyclopedia Dictionary of English Language 1977, Chicago, USA
[3] B. O. Nwabueze: Machinery of Justice in Nigeria 1963 p. 262
[4] The judiciary in the 1990s: expectation and challenges” in justice: a journal of contemporary legal problems.
[5] The black’s law dictionary Ninth Edition, p. 294
[6] 219 us 346, 361 (1911)
[7] (1981) 5 sc 112; (1981) 2 NCLR 385. See, also Senate v. Momoh (1983) 4 NCLR 269
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