RETHINKING AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW

The Formation of Customary Law

Islamic Law , Customary Law , and Afghan Informal Justice

This report is part of the United States Institute of Peace’s (USIP) ongoing effort to understand the pluralist legal system of Afghanistan. It examines, compares, and contrasts Islamic law with traditional forms of justice in an attempt to elucidate how such rule of law approaches interact as well as provide a fuller understanding of each system to better guide rule of law practice, policy, an...

The Emerging Customary Law of Space

The Political Economy of “Aboriginal Customary Law”

Discussions about aboriginal-non-aboriginal relations in Canada have stressed the need to recognize “aboriginal customary law” in self-government arrangements. It is maintained that many aspects of “native law” differ radically from the legal systems that emerged in European countries, and so imposing Canadian conceptions of law on aboriginal communities is an obstacle to native self-determinat...

Traditional governance and African customary law: Comparative observations from a Namibian perspective

The traditional versus the modern, the modern in the traditional, the traditional in the modern: topics high on the agenda of scholars and politicians! Emphasising one’s own (past) culture is widely practiced and part of political discourses at local, national and even international levels. The focus on one’s own culture may serve different purposes. It may be a pretext for covering otherwise u...