The Study of the Semantics of the Preposition above in the Nigeria Criminal Code Act

The aim of this paper analyses the semantics of above in English as a natural language and the Nigeria Criminal Code Act as a legal text with a view to seeing if the discrepancy between its senses in the ordinary English and the senses in the legal texts. The examination is vital owing to the fact that the discrepancy in the senses has impact on the interpretation of the law which in turn has bearing on judgment delivery and the establishment of the justice. So, the attention must be called to the peculiarity, if any, when interpreting the document. The work uses polysemy approach to provide proof for each sense associated with above in the Nigeria Criminal Code Act.