Section 328 Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) Lagos

Section 328 Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, as amended in 2021, is about Warrant of distress. It provides as follows:

(1) Where the Court orders a sum to be recoverable by distress, the Court shall issue its warrant of distress for the purpose of recovering same, such warrant shall be in writing and signed by the Court, it shall authorise the person charged with the execution to take any money as well as any goods of the person against whom distress is levied and any money so taken shall be treated as if it were the
proceeds of sale of goods taken under the warrant.

(2) In the execution of a distress warrant, the following provisions shall have effect—
(a) a warrant of distress shall be executed by or under the direction of the Sheriff;
(b) if the person charged with the execution of the warrant is prevented from executing the same by the fastening of doors or otherwise, the Judge or Magistrate shall, by a written endorsement on the warrant, authorise him to use such force as shall be necessary to enable him to execute the warrant;

(c) the wearing apparel and bedding of the person and of his family, to the value of Ten Thousand Naira (N=10,000.00) and the tools and implements of his trade, shall not be taken;
(d) except as provided in paragraph (e) and so far as the person upon whose movable property the distress is levied consents in writing to an earlier sale the goods distrained on shall be sold at public auction not less than five days and not more than fourteen (14) days after the making of the distress; but where consent in writing is so given, the sale may be in accordance with such consent;

(e) the goods distrained on shall be sold within the time fixed by the warrant, unless the sum for which the warrant was issued and also the charges, of taking and keeping the goods distrained on, are paid;

(f) if any person charged with the execution of a warrant of distress willfully retains from the proceeds of any property sold to satisfy the distress, or otherwise exacts, any greater costs or charges than those to which he is for the time being entitled, by Law, or makes any improper charge, he shall be liable, on summary conviction before a Magistrate, to a penalty not exceeding Twenty Thousand Naira (N=20,000.00):

Provided that nothing shall affect the liability of any such person to be prosecuted and punished for extortion;

(g) a written account of the costs and charges incurred in respect of the execution of any warrant of distress shall, as soon as practicable, be delivered by the person charged with the execution of the warrant to the Judge or Magistrate; and it shall be lawful for the person upon whose movable property the distress was levied, at any time within one month after the making of the distress, to inspect such account, without payment of any fee or reward, at any time during
office hours, and to take a copy of such account; and

(h) a person charged with the execution of a warrant of distress shall sell the distress or cause the same to be sold, and may deduct out of the amount realised by such sale all costs and charges actually incurred in effecting such sale, and shall pay to the Court or to some person specified by the Court, the remainder of such amount, in order that the same may be applied in payment of the sum for which the warrant was issued and of the proper costs and charges of the execution of the warrant, and that the surplus, if any, may be rendered to the person upon whose movable property the distress was levied.

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