Section 58 Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) Lagos

Section 58 Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, as amended in 2021, is about Venue. It provides as follows:

(1) Subject to the powers of transfer contained in the enactment or law establishing any Court, the place for the trial of an offence shall be in the Division or District—
(a) where the offence was committed; or

(b) where the act was done or where consequence ensues or to be done; or

(c) where the act is an offence by reason of its relation to any other act which is also an offence.

(2) An offence may be tried by a Court having jurisdiction in any Division or District in any of the following circumstances—
(a) when it is uncertain in which of several Divisions or Districts an offence was committed;
(b) when an offence is committed partly in one Division or District and partly in another;
(c) when an offence is a continuing one, and continues to be committed in more Divisions or Districts than one; or
(d) when it consists of several acts committed in different Divisions or Districts.

(3) An offence committed while the offender is in the course of performing a journey, may be tried by a court in the division or district through which the defendant passed or in which the thing in respect of which the offence was committed is situated.

(4) Where any cause is commenced in any division or district other than that in which it ought to have been commenced, it may, notwithstanding, be tried in that division or district unless the defendant shall object at or before the time when he is called upon to plead or to state his answer in such cause;

(5) On the application of either the prosecutor or the defendant, the Court may transfer the hearing of a cause from one division or district to another or from one part of one Division or district to another part of the same Division or district whenever the Court considers that the end of justice so requires.

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