Section 316 Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) Lagos

Section 316 Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, as amended in 2021, is about Power to impose fine in lieu of imprisonment. It provides as follows:

(1) Subject to the other provisions of this Section, where a Court has authority under any written law to impose imprisonment for any offence and has no specific authority to impose a fine for that offence, the Court may, in its discretion, impose a fine in lieu of imprisonment.

(2) In the case of a conviction in the High Court, the amount of the fine shall be at the discretion of the Court, and any term of imprisonment imposed in default of payment of the fine shall not exceed two (2) years.

(3) In the case of a conviction in a Magistrates’ Court the amount of the fine shall be in the discretion of the Court but shall not exceed the maximum fine authorised to be imposed by the Magistrate under the Law. No term of imprisonment imposed in default of payment of the fine shall exceed the maximum fixed in relation to the amount of the fine by the scale specified in subsection (2) of section 319.

(4) In no case shall any term of imprisonment imposed in default of payment of a fine which has been imposed by virtue of the power in that behalf contained in subsection (1) exceed the maximum term authorised as punishment for the offence by the written law.

(5) The provisions of this section shall not apply in any case where a written Law provides a minimum period of imprisonment to be imposed for the commission of an offence.

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