Author Description

"In Sub- Saharan Africa, State laws, customary laws, and to a lesser extent, religious laws co- exist in a tenuous relationship. State laws, also known as common law or laws of general application, are the remnants and adaptations of legal systems that Western Europeans imposed during colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries. They encompass statutory laws, codifications, judicial precedents, and the legal culture that accompanied colonial transplants. Religious laws mainly consist of Islamic or Shariah law principles, which have varying degrees of recognition in African legal systems. Customary laws comprise two types: indigenous laws, which are pre- colonial customs observed in their original forms, and adaptations of indigenous practices to globalisation and other socio- economic changes. As we show, most of these socioeconomic changes occur alongside coercive pressure exerted on indigenous behaviour by State laws. This volume investigates legislative and judicial attitudes towards legal pluralism in Africa and the future of indigenous laws in this context. There are three main reasons why this inquiry is significant"--