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The Scope for Uniform National Laws in Cameroon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Charles Manga Fombad
Charles Manga Fombad
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Laws, Faculty of Law and Economics, University of Yaoundé.
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Extract

Cameroon like most formerly colonised countries in African has, since independence and re-unification, grappled with a Danaidean task in attempting to develop a modern legal system that takes account of its heritage and present conditions, as well as its socio-economic and political needs. If the history of African legal systems reflects the difficulties encountered in framing national laws derived from customary and foreign laws introduced during the colonial era, these are even more serious in Cameroon where, because of its complicated colonial past, two potentially divergent foreign legal systems have struggled for supremacy in determining the nature and content of its new uniformised laws. Now in its third decade of independence, and with the two former British and French parts united politically, the goal of legal unity seems to be regarded as a logical sequitur.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , September 1991 , pp. 443 - 456
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

1 See Hooker, M. B., Legal Pluralism: an introduction to colonial and neo-colonial laws (Oxford, 1975), pp. 472–3.Google Scholar

2 See Anyangwe, Carlson, The Cameroonian Judicial System (Yaoundé, 1987), pp. 266–7.Google Scholar

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4 Cf. Ngwafor, loc. cit. pp. 5–15.

5 Ibid. p. 10.

6 Order No. 15 of 13 November 1973 appointed a civil legislation commission to ascertain and record the commonly accepted aspects of customary law, and not really to draft a customary law code as such. Nothing has been heard from this commission since then!

7 The Penal Code was introduced by Law No. 65 of 12 November 1965, and is now consolidated in Law No. 67 of 12 June 1967.

8 See the following articles written by the draftsmen of this Code: Parant, P., Gilg, R., and Clarence-Smith, J. A., ‘Le Code pénal camerounais, code africain et franco-anglais’, in Revue de science criminelle et de droit pénal comparé (Paris), 1967, p. 339,Google Scholar and Clarence-Smith, J. A., ‘The Cameroon Penal Code: practical comparative law’, in the International and Comparative Law Quarterly (London), 1968, p. 651.Google Scholar See also, Salacuse, Jeswalt W., An Introduction to Law in French-Speaking Africa, Vol. 1, Africa South of the Sahara (Charlottesville, Virginia, 1969), p. 276.Google Scholar

9 Sections 9 and 97 (2), 94–5, 23, 46–50, 86, and 78–9 of the Penal Code, respectively.

10 For example, such notations as ‘droits civiques, civils et de famille’ in Section 141. One glaring mistranslation, however, survived. Section 80(2) of the French text refers to ‘le mineur de dix à quatorze ans’, while the English version says ‘a person aged over fourteen and under eighteen years’, instead of ‘a person aged not less than ten and not more than fourteen years’.

11 There has been some talk about a new law on judicial organisation, but no one can predict with any degree of certainty its effect on the points under discussion.

12 See Scarman, L. G., ‘Law Reform – the New Pattern’, in Lloyd, Lord of Hampstead, (ed.), Introduction to Jurisprudence (London, 1972), pp. 842–4.Google Scholar

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14 Cf. the Privy Council judgement in Shorunke v. The King, 1946, Appeal Case 314, pp. 326–7.

15 Article 38 of the 1972 constitution.

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17 Park, A. E. W., The Sources of Nigerian Law (Lagos, 1963), pp. 14–42.Google Scholar See also, Brown, Douglas and Allen, Peter A. P. J., An Introduction to the Law of Uganda (London and Lagos, 1968), pp. 37–41;Google Scholar Olusagun, Akintunde, The Nigerian Legal System (London, 1969), p. 71;Google Scholar and Roberts-Wray, , ‘The Adoption of Imported Law in Africa’, in Journal of African Law (London), 1960, pp. 66 and 70–1.Google Scholar

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23 Ibid. pp. 36–40, but see criticism of this by Allott, op. cit. 68–9.

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25 Tarh Robert v. Mbeacho Emmanuel, Appeal No. 2/19/8CC of 19 November 1976, unreported; Bicic v. Masah Allen Messembe, Suit No. HCSW/16/84, unreported; and Gabriel Simo v. Biao Cameroun, Suit No. HCSW/63/85, unreported.Google Scholar

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28 Ibid. pp. 254–5.

29 Sections 7 and 10 of the Southern Cameroons High Court Law of 1955.

30 The Bulletin des arréts de la cour suprème (Yaoundé), begun in 1960,Google Scholar appeared only sporadically. François-Xavier Mbouyom's collection of administrative cases from 1962 to 1975 was essentially a private venture that was not very authoritative. The series of West Cameroon Law Reports ceased after the publication of three volumes: 1962–1964, 1965–1967, and 1968. Despite the stated objective to continue from where these had stopped, The University of Yaoundé Law Reports appeared for the first (and, so far, only) time in 1984–1985, covering cases decided between 1968–1970 and 1971–1973.

31 Elias, , op. cit. p. 251.Google Scholar

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33 There are three distinct legal districts in the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

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