TITLE OF ARTICLE: Judicial Discretion in Sentencing and Examination of Witnesses under Nigerian Law
AUTHOR:
HELEN UCHENNA AGU, B.Sc (Nig.), LL.B (Nig.), B.L, LL.M (Nig.), Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
ABSTRACT:
The judge as the alter ego of the Court must act within the confines of the law. A judge must deliver his judgments, rulings and sentences within a current that does not overflow the banks of law and reason. However, the judge being a ‘human being’ cannot reasonably be expected to act in a rigidly designed fashion as though he were a machine or robot. Therefore, the law has, in its wisdom, allowed for the exercise of judicial discretion by judges who must act judicially and judiciously in appropriate cases. This paper examines the exercise of judicial discretion in Nigerian courts in relation to sentencing and examination of witnesses and thereby determines whether such exercise has generally been wrongful or otherwise from the perspective of the elusive reasonable man of the law. It proffers some recommendations to guide proper exercise of discretion in the identified circumstances.