AGE OF MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA

The Marriage Act does not lay down any mandatory age for marriage. This vacuum on an important and fundamental matter is a serious omission which requires immediate remedial action. Before March 1970, when the Matrimonial Causes Actc became effective, one school of thought held the view that the lacunae in the marriage law should be filled by applying the law and practice for the time being in force in England'. If this were accepted, the English age of marriage prescribed by the Marriage Act 1949, which is sixteen years, would be applicable in Nigeria. Whatever may be the validity of this point of view, the possibility of its application has been lost since the 1970 Act came into force, banning the application of English law.

Section 3(l)(e) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1970 makes a marriage void where either of the parties is not of 'marriageable age'. But nowhere in the statute is the term 'marriageable age' defined.

In the absence of a statutory definition of age of marriage, recourse may be had to the common-rule on the subject. Part of the received English law in Nigeria is the common law of England. Under the common law, a valid marriage -may be contracted if the parties have attained the age of puberty—fourteen years in the case of a boy and twelve years for a girl.