X-RAYING THE RIGHTS OF AN UNBORN CHILD UNDER THE ENGLISH COMMON LAW: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE
Loading...
Date
2025-12-30
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Jurisprudence and Public Law, Faculty of Law, Kwara State University, Malete
Abstract
Major focus in the global discourse of rights have been on human rights. This
presupposes the rights of persons who have been born alive. Little attention is paid to the
rights of the unborn child under the common law jurisprudence. Hence, this paper is
poised into making an enquiry into the rights of an unborn child under the English
common law. In doing so, the study adopts the doctrinal method of legal research. The
paper finds that there appears no consensus among scholars on when human life begins,
while some opine that it is at birth, quickening is said to mark the beginning of life by
some; the pro-life advocates opine that conception is the beginning of human life. The
paper finds further that the underlying principle as regards the unborn child in Common
law jurisdictions is the ‘born alive rule’ with an exception found in the American
experience of the rule. The paper finds also that Nigerian constitutional provisions on the
protection of human life vis-à-vis appropriate sanctions for violation are by extension
applicable to an unborn child. The paper concludes that such rights can be overridden in
the interest of the mother. The paper recommends legal jurisprudence expansion to
harmonize various issues relating to the rights of an unborn child under the law.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Lexscriptio