A butterfly that thinks itself a bird

The identity of customary courts in Nigeria

Bibliographic Data

ID14799900
AuthorsAnthony Diala (0000-0003-2582-0139, University of the Western Cape, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume51
Issue3
Pages381-405
Publication date2019-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0732-9113 • E-ISSN: 2305-9931
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07329113.2019.1678281
OpenAlexW2981412407
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited43

Over the past 600 years, African states have been subjected to powerful influences of globalisation such as the slave trade, colonialism, transcultural exchange, and the law and development movement. These influences, which reflect in transplanted European laws masquerading as state laws, are steadily eroding the identity of indigenous African laws. So, to what extent do customary courts in Nigeria reflect indigenous law identity? This unexplored question is significant for scholarly and policy perceptions of legal pluralism in post-colonial states. These perceptions tend to favour conflict of laws, rather than the dialogue occurring between indigenous laws and state laws in intersectional social fields. Informed by case analysis, interviews, and archival searches, this article presents Nigerian customary courts as Anglicised courts pretending to be indigenous courts. It argues that customary courts illustrate indigenous law’s adaptation to socioeconomic changes. In exposing state laws as a key component of these changes, the article highlights the ways customary court actors engender behavioural changes that reveal the adaptive nature of normative interaction in post-colonial societies. It suggests that the adaptive interface of state laws and indigenous laws offers a theoretical platform for legal integration in sub-Saharan Africa

Aesthetics · Art · Biology · Butterfly · Identity (music · Political science · African history and culture analysis · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Land Rights and Reforms · Law · Ecology