Concurrent application of the Hague and Hamburg rules: ascertaining the applicable law to contracts for the carriage of goods by sea in Nigeria

Misuse of ship-owners’ stronger bargaining power during the nineteenth century resulted in the formulation of rules to regulate carriage of goods by sea contracts. The adoption of the Hague Rules in 1924 was followed by that of the Hamburg Rules in 1978. Nigeria has domesticated both Rules – the Hague Rules under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), 2004 and The Hamburg Rules by the United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (UNCCGSA), 2005. In order to bring the Hamburg Rules into force, article 31 of the same Rules enjoins parties to denounce the 1924 Convention. Since the domestication of the Hamburg Rules in Nigeria, the COGSA has neither been denounced nor repealed, leading to confusion as to the applicable law in this area. This paper sets out to evaluate whether the enactment of the UNCCGSA has repealed the COGSA or whether the two legislation apply concurrently in Nigeria. Through analysis of case law, it contends that the enactment of the UNCCGSA has impliedly repealed the COGSA in Nigeria. Finally, the paper offers further suggestions which will aid in bringing certainty and uniformity to this area of law in the country.     

Suicide by Shotgun in Southeastern Minnesota

Suicide by shotgun is a common method of suicide with high regional variation. We sought to describe their distinct, challenging features and provide demographic and risk characteristics. We reviewed 228 gunshot wounds autopsied at Mayo Clinic from 1994 to 2014; of these, 75 (32.9%) were shotgun wounds. All were suicides and contact range. Ages ranged from 14 to 92 years old; of these, 97% were men. The majority involved the head (70.9%), were intraoral (48.2%), and had upward (73.2%) and backward (73.2%) directionality. Next most common was the chest (21.5%), with backward (94.1%) and downward (64.7%) directionality. Four involved multiple wounds. Wadding was recovered in 16 (21.3%) cases. Six (8.0%) had a survival period. Most (66.7%) took place at home. Seventy‐one percent had a known psychiatric history; 32.4% had positive toxicology. Although contact range shotgun wounds cause severe destruction, entrance wound and other characteristic are identifiable with thorough scene, autopsy, and radiographic documentation.     

Identification of Bodies by Unique Serial Numbers on Implanted Medical Devices

Visual identification is the most common identification method used by medical examiners but is not always possible. Alternative methods include X‐ray, fingerprint, or DNA comparison, but these methods require additional resources. Comparison of serial numbers on implanted medical devices is a rapid and definitive method of identification. To assess the practicality of using this method, we reviewed 608 consecutive forensic autopsies performed at a regional medical examiner office. Of these, 56 cases required an alternative method of identification due to decomposition (n = 35), gunshot wound (n = 9), blunt trauma (n = 6), or charring (n = 6). Of these 56 cases, eight (14.3%) were known to have an implanted medical device. Of these eight cases, five (63%) could be positively identified by comparing serial numbers. If an implanted medical device is known to be present, and medical records are available, identification by medical device serial number should be a first‐line method.     

The African Political Business Cycle: Varieties of Experience

We seek to understand both the incidence and the impact of the African political business cycle in the light of a literature which has argued that, with major extensions of democracy since the 1990s, the cycle has both become more intense and has made African political systems more fragile. With the help of country case studies, we argue, first, that the African political business cycle is not homogeneous, and occurs relatively infrequently in so-called ‘dominant-party systems’ where a pre-election stimulus confers little political advantage. Secondly, we show that, in those countries where a political cycle does occur, it does not necessarily cause institutional damage. Whether it does or not depends not so much on whether there is an electoral cycle as on whether this cycle calms or exacerbates fears of an unjust allocation of resources. In other words, the composition of the pre-election stimulus, in terms of its allocation between different categories of voter, is as important as its size.     

Mastoid Triangle for Sex Determination in Adult Nigerian Population: A Validation Study

In the quest for a simple, reliable technique to estimate the sex of human remains several novel metric skeletal indices have been reported. Only a few have been examined for utility in populations different from those in which they were developed. In this study, the mastoid process was evaluated for sex determination using 102 lateral cephalograms of a Nigerian sample of known age and sex. The asterion‐mastoidale distance and mastoid triangular area were sexually dimorphic with mean values higher in males compared with females (p = 0.02). On analysis of the discriminant function, overall accuracy for sex classification was 55%. On cross‐validation, the triangular area accurately identified 80% of females and 48% of males. The asterion‐mastoidale distance was slightly more accurate at sexing the sample. The practical utility of the mastoid triangle area technique to differentiate sex in Nigerian populations is not supported by the results of this study.     

Stature Estimation Formulae for Nigerians

Abstract:  In stature estimation, long limbs and the stature formula of Trotter and Gleser easily come to mind. In the recent past, a lot of workers have established formulae specific to their populations using whole length of limbs, fragmented bones, circumference of long bones, and even length of the vertebrae. We have in this work used tibia length, height of subjects, and the regression models to establish formulae specific to Nigerians. We measured height and tibia length of 200 (96 male and 104 female) adult Nigerians. The tibia length was measured from upper limit of the medial condoyle to the tip of medial malleolus using a measuring tape calibrated in meters while the height of individuals were also measured using meter scales. All measurements were made by one person, to avoid interobserver error, and repeatedly until a constant value is obtained. We obtained general formulae for males and females which compares favorably with that of Duyar and Pelin, and can be relied upon.     

Elevator-Related Deaths

Elevators are mechanical transportation devices used to move vertically between different levels of a building. When first developed, elevators lacked the safety features. When safety mechanisms were developed, elevators became a common feature of multistory buildings. Despite their well-regarded safety record, elevators are not without the potential for danger of injury or death. Persons at-risk for elevator-related death include maintenance and construction workers, other employees, and those who are prone to risky behavior. Deaths may be related to asphyxia, blunt force, avulsion injuries, and various forms of environmental trauma. In this review, we report on 48 elevator-related deaths that occurred in nine different medicolegal death investigation jurisdictions within the United States over an approximately 30-year period. The data represents a cross-section of the different types of elevator-related deaths that may be encountered. The review also presents an overview of preventive strategies for the purpose of avoiding future elevator-related fatalities.