THE JURIDICAL SUBJECT: HOW LAW CONSTRUCTS "WIDOW," "DAUGHTER," AND "HEIR" IN YORUBA INHERITANCE PRACTICE

In Yoruba inheritance practice, the categories that statutory law treats as self-evident "widow," "daughter," "heir" are not found readymade in the world. They are made, contested, and withheld in the compound, through speech, ritual sequencing, and structured exclusion. Drawing on feminist legal theory and legal anthropology, this article examines how the juridical subjects of inheritance are constituted in Yoruba family practice in southwestern Nigeria. Using data from 42 observed family meetings and 55 in-depth interviews conducted between 2021 and 2025 in Ogun, Oyo, and Osun States, the article argues that the 1999 Constitution presumes a stable, rights-bearing legal subject, whereas Yoruba customary practice produces subjects whose standing is contingent, performative, and continuously re-negotiated. A "widow" under statute holds immediate proprietary rights while a "widow" in the compound must first discharge obligations of mourning, fidelity, and care before any claim becomes recognisable. A "daughter" under Section 42(1) of the Constitution is a constitutional heir while a "daughter" in family deliberation is frequently repositioned as a guest to be "settled." An "heir" in court is any child of the deceased and an "heir" in Yoruba practice is the person who performs burial rites, speaks for the lineage, and is recognised by the elders as competent to do so. Building on the author's prior doctrinal and empirical work and on the wider literature on African legal pluralism, the article contends that the persistent gap between the constitutional subject and the customary subject accounts for the limited transformative reach of Ukeje v. Ukeje (2014). It concludes that reform must target the site of subject-formation itself, legal literacy that equips women to claim statutory subjecthood, and procedural interventions that require family meetings to name and record all potential heirs before deliberation begins.