Future developments in the criminal laws of many African countries present a number of problems. The influence of English criminal law throughout the English-speaking areas has been universal: even in southern Africa where the legal systems are founded upon Roman-Dutch law, criminal law is to a great extent English in character.2 It will be seen, however, that English principles when applied south of the Zambezi may undergo metamorphosis as a result of reinterpretation according to fundamental notions of the Roman-Dutch system.

The use of assessors in criminal trials in the Commonwealth of Nations originated in India and the first judicial attempt to examine its history and origin appears to have been made by Bhashyam Ayyanyar, J., in 1901 in the case of King Emperor v. Tribunal Reddi reported in I.L.R. 24 Madras 523, at page 543. The learned judge pointed out in that case that “the earliest legislation which authorized European functionaries presiding in Courts of Sessions to constitute two or more respectable natives to assist them as assessors … [was] Regulation VI of 1832 which was applicable only to Bengal”.