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African Legal Tradition J. M. Sarbah, J. B. Danquah, N. A. Ollennu

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Irina Sinitsina
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Extract

The Systematic study of African customary law and of the establishment of its role in the legal systems of African states was initiated, above all, by works of A. N. Allott. The scholar gives unflagging attention to the local legal schools which laid a serious basis for the present-day comparative study both of customary law and of national legal systems, for clarifying the possible ways of their development, and for a search for optimal legal forms which would take due account of the interests of small ethnic groups. The formation of national legal systems of African states has aroused a major interest in the customary law of ethnic groups. A. N. Allott correctly observed that it was necessary to pay heed, in particular, to the historical aspect of customary law.

The most vivid example of the high level of development of autochthonous legal institutions and of their study by local legal scholars is furnished by the legal school of the ethnolinguistic group known as Akan (the Gold Coast, later Ghana).

Present day Ghana in the pre-colonial period formed the states of the Akan peoples—Fanti and Ashanti—and of the inhabitants of the Birim-Volta river region—Akim and Akuapem. Screened by a tropical forest from the north and facing the Gulf of Guinea, the region remained isolated from external influences for many long epochs, creating specific systems of state law. The types and forms of their customary law mechanism characterize the level of development and specific features of appropriate societies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 31 , Issue 1-2: Essays in Honour of A. N. Allott , Spring 1987 , pp. 44 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1987

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References

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