Gwao Bin Kilimo

The case of Gwao bin Kilimo v. Kisunda bin Ifuti decided by the colonial courts of the then Tanganyika has always held a certain fascination for those interested in the process of law under colonial rule. This is for a variety of reasons. The case seems to put into sharp focus the conflict between the imposed common law system and the indigenous customary law. This in turn stimulates questions as to the social values that lay, and probably still lie, behind the two systems and the extent to which those values reflect actual differences between the societies in which they developed. Since the conflict arose in a colonial context, the case also raises the question of the rôle of law in such a society and therefore, to some extent, the rôle of law in relation to ideology and political economy in this and in other contexts also. What is less well known is that the case was the subject of comment by colonial administrative officers at the time, comments which point up many of the issues involved and provide some insight into the different perceptions of African society on the part of administrative officers on the one hand and the judiciary on the other

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