: This study examines the nature, scope and sources of the law of labour relations with particular reference
to Nigeria in juxtaposition with the narrower confines of Nigerian labour law. Through the utilization of the
doctrinal method, an appraisal of the common law origins of industrial relations and employment contract
predilections in the general law of contract, this study finds that the law of labour relations finds wide applicability
within and outside conventional employment relationships. This study also surmises that reliance upon common
law and colonial aphorisms of labour relations has negated the effects of a relativist approach to the enactment of
labour legislations. The constitutional tethering of labour legislative activism in the Exclusive Legislative List and
Concurrent is detrimental to progressive labour law and labour rights initiatives in the Nigerian legal system. The
2010 Third Amendment of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria notwithstanding, this study
further finds the outdated and outmoded labour legislations implicit in the Nigerian statutory terrain inimical to
dynamism in labour relations. This study consequentially recommends a reappraisal of the law of industrial
relations in Nigeria in line with the dynamism of international legal standards.