vol_4_4_chapter_4_part_III

CILS HARMONISED SHARIA PENAL CODE ANNOTATED
6. Nothing in this Law 13 shall affect the authority of 14 courts subject to the jurisdiction of
this Law 15 to punish a person summarily for the offence commonly known as contempt of
court.
7. No act or omission committed by a person shall be an offence under the provisions of
this law unless such act or omission was committed on or after the commencement date of
this law. 16
SCHEDULE A: SHARIA PENAL CODE
CHAPTER I – GENERAL EXPLANATIONS AND DEFINITIONS 17
1. Every expression, which is explained in any part of this Sharia Penal Code, is used in
every part of this Sharia Penal Code in conformity with the explanation, unless the subject or
sense of the context otherwise requires.
2. The pronoun "he" and its derivatives are used for any person whether male or female.
3. Unless the contrary appears from the context, words importing the singular number
include the plural number and words importing the plural number include singular number.
4. The word "man" denotes a male human being of any age and the word "woman"
denotes a female human being of any age. 18
** [“age of maturity”] 19
5. (1) The word "person" includes any company or association or body of persons,
whether incorporated or not. 20
(2) A child becomes a person when it has been born alive whether the umbilical cord is
severed or not. 21
13 PC: “in this Law or in the Penal Code”.
14 Kano, Katsina: “shall preclude”.
15 PC: “courts of record”.
16 PC omits this section. Kaduna and Yobe have it as subsection (2) of §3. Katsina: “An act or
omission committed by a person shall not be an offence nor shall it have retrospective effect under the
provisions of this Law, unless such an act or omission was committed on or after the commencement
of this Law or the Islamic Penal System (Adoption) Law, 2000”, cf. n. 3 above. Kano as Katsina but
omitting the reference to Katsina’s Islamic Penal System (Adoption) Law. Kebbi adds a subsection (2)
to this section providing that “all pending criminal cases commenced or instituted prior to the coming
into force of this Law shall continue to be tried under the [old Penal Code].”
17 Kano, Katsina entitle this Chapter INTERPRETATION. As to the order of the definitions: the HSPC
and all SPCs except Kebbi and Sokoto follow the order of the definitions given in PC, with insertions
or omissions noted subsequently. Kebbi and Sokoto order the definitions alphabetically by section title
(except in the case of the first section, which is the same as here).
18 Sokoto divides this definition into two, one under “Man” and the other under “Woman”.
19 Bauchi inserts here a definition of “age of maturity”: “denotes the attainment of the age of fifteen or
of puberty in the case of a man and of the age of fourteen in the case of a woman or of the attainment
of such woman’s menstruation whichever of the two conditions may precede in either case.” No other
code has a similar definition. Bauchi then uses the phrase in its versions of what are here §§38, 77, 95,
127, etc.
20 Jigawa: “The word ‘person’ includes any class or section of the public” – obviously conflating the
definition of ‘person’ with that of ‘the public’ in the next section. Jigawa then omits subsection (2) of
this section.
47