The highly adaptive character of norms in recently colonised societies mocks the usefulness of ‘official’ and ‘living’ customary law labels
 

Author: 

AC Diala
 

Summary:

In 2017, the author critiqued the classification of African customary laws into ‘official’ and ‘living’ versions, especially the ambiguity in the conceptualisation of living customary law. Through this article, he revisits and abandons the concept of living customary law. Informed by multi-country evidence, the author categorises African legal orders into statutory laws, indigenous laws, and customary laws. Indigenous laws are precolonial customs which are still observed in their ancient forms, while customary laws are people’s adaptation of their precolonial norms to social and economic changes. Arguably, the intersectional nature of normative adaptations questions the usefulness of ‘official’ and ‘living’ customary law labels. The article’s re-conceptualisation of African laws is based on the highly adaptive character of norms in societies that emerged from European colonialism in the past century. In so doing, the article contributes to the theoretical meaning of law by defining it as widely accepted practices to which people in social groups attach a sense of obligation and exert pressure for conformity.


Link to book chapter