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African Customary Law in the Former Portuguese Territories, 1954–1974

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Narana Coissoro
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Extract

Throughout all Portuguese colonial history in the African continent, the question of recognizing oral local laws, the so called “customary laws”, and the koranic law in some areas of Guinea and the northern region of Mozambique, could never be separate from the constitutional law applicable to the aboriginal inhabitants who follow it in their daily lives. That is the reason why accepting the principle according to which the everyday-life relations of Africa could be controlled by specific juridicial rules distinct from Portuguese “common law” was always connected with the private and territorial validity of the individual rights and guarantees included in the constitutional texts concerning Africans. As a logical consequence of this link between citizenship and the application of the Portuguese law in force in the metropolis, applying traditional law always depended on the political concepts formed during the present century, as Portuguese sovereignty, until the end of the nineteenth century, was restricted to small littoral centres and the practice of authority in the other regions acquired at the Berlin Conference was deficient or merely nominal.

The African juridical rules were always tolerated, as a means of securing colonial public peace or as a necessary condition for the smooth practice of Portuguese sovereignty beyond its European frontiers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 28 , Issue 1-2: The Construction and Transformation of African Customary Law , Spring 1984 , pp. 72 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1984

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References

1 The feeble penetration of the colonial administrative system over large areas of the colonial territories and ignorance of the political and juridical life of the native populations made the functioning of the repugnancy clauses very difficult. See Coissor, NaranaO Estatuto dos Indigents, lecture delivered at the Technical University of Lisbon, 1967, 5–8Google Scholar. Rego, Antonio da SilvaLicoes da Historia do Ultramar Portugues, 1962 130–135.Google Scholar

2 Coissor, N., Instituticoes Regionais, 19677, 68–85.Google Scholar

3 Godines, Les Droits Africaines, Evolution Et Sources (2nd edition), Paris, 1967, 252.Google Scholar

4 Freitas, Joao da Costa, Politica Ultramarina, 1965 49.Google Scholar

5 In practice the Native Statute was never introduced in Cabo Verde territory, where the application of Portuguese metropolitan law was general.

6 On the difficulties of application of local African rights and the establishment of courts for such purposes; see Moreira, Adriano, A Administracao da Justica aos Indigents 1954, 123 and following.Google Scholar

7 Coissoro, Narana, The Customary Laws of Succession in Central Africa London University, PhD Thesis, 1962, 44 and following.Google Scholar

8 Caetano, Marcelo, Principios, Tradicoes e Metodos de Colonizacao Portuguesa Lisbon, 18 and following.Google Scholar

9 See Coissoro, Narano, As Questoes Gentilicas, Lisbon, 1965, 3–6.Google Scholar

10 Coissoro, Narana, Curso Elementar de Direito Processual 1962—63.Google Scholar

11 Moreira, Adriano, Administracao da justica aos Indigenas 197 and following.Google Scholar

12 Source listed in note 8 above.

13 Coissoro, Narana, As Quetos Gentilicas 42–46.Google Scholar

14 Coissoro, Narana, O Regime das Terras em Mocambique Lisbon, 1966.Google Scholar

15 Nogueira, Eurico, Missao em Mocambique Vila Cabral 1970, 31.Google Scholar

16 Coissoro, Narana, “A Revogacao do Estatuto dos Indigenas” in Revista de Estudos Sociais e Politicos, ISCSPU, Lisbon 1966Google Scholar. An English translation of the law of 6 09 1961 can be found in the work listed in note 7 above.Google Scholar

17 As Quesloes Gentiticas, listed above.

18 Allott, A. N., Essays in African Law, London, 1960.Google Scholar