Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One The Nature and Future of Customary Law
- 1 A Survey of Customary Laws in Africa in Search of Lessons for the Future
- 2 The Future of Living Customary Law in African Legal Systems in the Twenty-First Century and Beyond, with Special Reference to South Africa
- 3 The Future of Customary Law in Africa
- Part Two Ascertainment, Application, and Codification of Customary Law
- Part Three The Role and Power of Traditional Authorities
- Part Four Customary Land, Property Rights, and Succession
- Part Five Customary Criminal Law
- Part Six Customary Law, Human Rights, and Gender Equality
- Index
- References
3 - The Future of Customary Law in Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One The Nature and Future of Customary Law
- 1 A Survey of Customary Laws in Africa in Search of Lessons for the Future
- 2 The Future of Living Customary Law in African Legal Systems in the Twenty-First Century and Beyond, with Special Reference to South Africa
- 3 The Future of Customary Law in Africa
- Part Two Ascertainment, Application, and Codification of Customary Law
- Part Three The Role and Power of Traditional Authorities
- Part Four Customary Land, Property Rights, and Succession
- Part Five Customary Criminal Law
- Part Six Customary Law, Human Rights, and Gender Equality
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
African customary law was the dominant legal system in much of pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa. With the advent of colonialism in Africa in the middle of the nineteenth century, customary law gradually lost its primacy to the European-style legal systems and laws brought by the colonizing nations. The common law, civil law, and, to some extent, Roman-Dutch law became the general law and the primary legal system in many African countries in the colonial and post-colonial eras. In addition, Islamic law had emerged as the dominant law in some places in the continent prior to colonialism. Islamic law is different from customary law, even though the British colonial authorities decreed in some of their colonies that Islamic law is a customary law. With these developments, customary law lost and never regained its status as a full-fledged legal system in modern African nation states.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Future of African Customary Law , pp. 58 - 80Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
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