X-RAYING THE RIGHTS OF AN UNBORN CHILD UNDER THE ENGLISH COMMON LAW: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Major focus in the global discourse of rights have been on human rights. This presupposes the rights of persons who have been born alive. Little attention is paid to the rights of the unborn child under the common law jurisprudence. Hence, this paper is poised into making an enquiry into the rights of an unborn child under the English common law. In doing so, the study adopts the doctrinal method of legal research. The paper finds that there appears no consensus among scholars on when human life begins, while some opine that it is at birth, quickening is said to mark the beginning of life by some; the pro-life advocates opine that conception is the beginning of human life. The paper finds further that the underlying principle as regards the unborn child in Common law jurisdictions is the ‘born alive rule’ with an exception found in the American experience of the rule. The paper finds also that Nigerian constitutional provisions on the protection of human life vis-à-vis appropriate sanctions for violation are by extension applicable to an unborn child. The paper concludes that such rights can be overridden in the interest of the mother. The paper recommends legal jurisprudence expansion to harmonize various issues relating to the rights of an unborn child under the law.