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WEEKLY LEGAL NUGGETS

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THE RADIANT JUSTICE CHAMERS, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY

CORPUS DELICTI

Corpus delicti literally means "body of the crime" in Latin. It is pronounced as                                       [ kawr-puhs di-lik-tahy ]. It is also sometimes referred to as "body of evidence" or "material element" in English legal systems.

Corpus delicti is the principle that a crime must be proved to have occurred before a person can be convicted of committing that crime.

In essence corpus delicti means that some type of evidence needs to be found before a person can be convicted of a crime. Then no literal 'body' will be needed so far as circumstantial evidence is established. If a crime has been committed and evidence is disposed of or destroyed, the corpus delicti rule may nonetheless allow the prosecution to bring a case against a person.

Corpus delicti is not to be misinterpreted to have a literal meaning rather than a figurative one. There had previously been a rule called the Matthew Hale's Rule of "no body, no crime", but in the twentieth century, the law expanded to allow prosecution for murder solely on circumstantial evidence. Matthew Hale was the Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1671 to 1676.

Corpus delicti has been applied to crimes such as murder and arson where there may not be any physical evidence left behind. For example, if someone is murdered and their body disposed of, but they are seen entering an apartment building, then it can be assumed that they were killed inside that building based on circumstantial evidence alone. See the case of STATE V. AHMED (2020) LPELR-49497(SC) where the Supreme court held per Kekere Ekun "it is well settled that if there are facts from which it can be inferred that the deceased has been killed, a conviction for murder can still stand even though the corpus delicti (dead body) is not produced".   

The corpus delicti rule is essential to the rule of law within our systems as a whole. Although the principle may seem simple, the application of the term has been the subject of much contention throughout its history. In fact, corpus delicti can play an important role in both civil and criminal law. 

FROM THE DIRECTORATE OF RESEARCH
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