The Architecture of Classical Reception in Nigerian Legal Discourse: An Original Theoretical Analysis

Nigerian legal discourse is saturated with classical intellectual material, including Latin maxims, Roman law concepts, Greek philosophical principles embedded in natural law theory, and classical rhetorical structures, yet no systematic theoretical analysis of the architecture of this classical presence in Nigerian legal thought has been produced. This study develops an original theoretical analysis of the architecture of classical reception in Nigerian legal discourse. A multi-method theoretical investigation was adopted, combining historical tracing of the transmission of Roman and Greek legal concepts through English common law and their recontextualisation in Nigerian law, systematic analysis of the Supreme Court of Nigeria's judgments from 2010 to 2023 for classical intellectual content, and structured interviews with 25 Nigerian legal scholars and practising senior advocates on their conscious and unconscious engagement with classical legal thought. The theoretical analysis proposes an original Classical Legal Palimpsest Model, which represents Nigerian legal discourse as a stratified text in which classical Roman law, Greek philosophical legal thought, and Islamic jurisprudence all constitute recoverable layers beneath the surface English common law text. Each layer is shown to be active rather than merely historical, shaping legal reasoning in the present. The model generates a typology of classical legal reception types (explicit citation, structural inheritance, conceptual analogy, and unconscious sedimentation) and a methodology for identifying each type in legal texts. The study constitutes an original contribution to both Classical Studies and Nigerian legal theory.

Keywords: classical reception, Nigerian legal discourse, Roman law, legal theory, original analysis