The Limits of the Lockean Doctrine of Judicial Restraint and Democracy in Nigeria: Evidence from the Supreme Court of Nigeria (Published)
This paper interrogates the limits of the Lockean doctrine of judicial restraint within Nigeria’s contemporary constitutional democracy and governance, drawing evidence from Nigeria’s Supreme Court jurisprudence. It seeks to analyse the Supreme Court’s decisions to assess the extent to which judicial practice in Nigeria’s democracy aligns with or deviates from the Lockean doctrine of judicial restraint. The paper is anchored in Lockean Fiduciary Theory and Hirschl’s Juristocracy Theory, using a qualitative doctrinal methodology and secondary literature. Findings reveal that the Supreme Court oscillates between judicial restraint and judicial activism. The paper argues that the mixed jurisprudential records raise serious concerns for democratic accountability and expose the structural and contextual limits of Lockean judicial restraint in Nigeria’s democratic landscape. It concludes that the sustainability of Lockean judicial restraint in the interest of constitutionalism and democracy in Nigeria requires, among others, depoliticization of the Supreme Court and radical judicial reforms.
Keywords: Judicial Activism, Juristocracy, Lockean judicial restraint, Supreme Court jurisprudence, constitutional democracy, fiduciary theory