Requirements Of A Valid Customary Law Marriage in Nigeria.
To have a valid customary marriage, there are essential and formal requirements. The details of such requirements vary from one locality to another but there are broad principles which are sometimes similar.
The Parties to a Customary Marriage must possess the capacity under the law to marry each other.
There must be payment of dowry, or bride price which is a gift or payment. Bride price may be money, natural produce or any other kind of property. This must be paid to the parent or guardian of the bride. It must be paid on account of a marriage of a female person and it must be for marriage which is intended or has taken place.
There must be a ceremony of marriage and the handing over of the woman to the man’s family.
Cohabiting and having children does not necessarily make a couple married under native law and custom. In the same way, a wife under native law and custom does not divorce the man merely by leaving him.
When customary marriage is disputed, the best proof of existence must come from the testimony of a person who witnessed the marriage ceremony or took part in it or from the parent of the person who either paid or took the dowry.