Courting the community: Legitimacy and punishment in a community court, by Christina Zozula

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1342-1345
Author(s):  
Luther Krueger
Keyword(s):  
Community Court

scholarly journals Competing Competences in Adjudication: Reviewing the Relationship between the ECOWAS Court and National Courts

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edefe Ojomo
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Community Court ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
West Africans ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article argues that regional access to justice in West Africa provides an alternative to national access to justice through the institution of the ecowas Community Court of Justice. This gives West Africans the option of pursuing justice in national judicial institutions or in the ecowas Court. Therefore, it reveals a situation where both systems compete for effectiveness in meeting the justice demands of citizens while also encouraging greater complementarity in their institutional activities.

Can the Economic Community of West African States Community Court of Justice Enforce the African Charter Replicas of the Non-Justiciable Chapter II Human Rights Provisions of the Nigerian Constitution against Nigeria?

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amos O. Enabulele ◽  
Anthony Osaro Ewere
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
West African ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Community Court ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Education Commission ◽  
African Charter

This article highlights a major source of tension between the Supplementary Protocol of the Economic Community of West Africa States Community Court of Justice (ECOWAS CCJ) and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (CFRN), in relation to the enforcement of economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights against Nigeria, as manifested in a recent decision of the ECOWAS CCJ in Registered Trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) v Federal Republic of Nigeria and Universal Basic Education Commission. The focus of this article on the tension is both from the perspective of Nigerian law and of the ECOWAS CCJ. It argues that while the CFRN cannot deprive the ECOWAS CCJ of the jurisdiction expressly given to it by its Protocols, the CFRN does have implications for the enforcement of any decision of the ECOWAS CCJ that offends its provisions within the CFRN sphere of superiority.

The Nigerian Constitution, the ecowas Treaty and the Judiciary: Interplay of Roles in the Constitutionalisation of Free Trade

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Chuma-Okoro
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Direct Effect ◽  
Community Court ◽  
Community Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
Direct Applicability

This paper discusses the Nigerian Constitution and the ecowas Treaty to determine whether and how they support free trade as envisioned in the Treaty, and the role of the judiciary in the realisation of this objective. Focusing on the ecowas Community Court and Nigerian superior courts vested with jurisdiction over constitutional matters, it argues that specific constitutional norms and policies of Nigeria inhibit the realisation of the objectives of free trade as constitutionalised in the ecowas Treaty. Relying on the principles of direct applicability and direct effect, and the arguments developed around these principles in relation to the obligations of State parties to treaties, it argues further that Community law should be applicable in national jurisdictions and enforced by national courts. Thus, Nigerian courts and the ecowas Community Court both have jurisdiction to arbitrate matters arising from national laws and policies having the effect of inhibiting the ecowas objectives of free trade. It concludes that while the ecowas and Nigerian frameworks support the interplay of roles in the adjudication and enforcement of ecowas norms, this would depend on the extent to which some of the constitutional and policy constraints in question are addressed.

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon T. Ebobrah
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
African Region ◽  
The West ◽  
Community Court ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
West African Region ◽  
User Groups

This chapter examines whether the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice (ECCJ or Court), as an international court operating in the West African region with its peculiar sociopolitical and economic context, enjoys any form or degree of actual authority in any of its main functions. The ECCJ’s two contrasting epochs represent a variation in the authority of the Court. Whereas under its 1991 Protocol, the Court enjoyed limited de jure authority with little potential for growing its de facto authority, the 2005 Supplementary Protocol introduced expansions that increased the potential for enhanced de facto authority. Ultimately, the Court’s authority varies significantly both in terms of areas of competence, as among different court-users and in relation to wider communities in its State Parties. Arguably, these variations indicate that different factors influence the responses that the Court attracts from different user-groups.

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