Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One The Nature and Future of Customary Law
- Part Two Ascertainment, Application, and Codification of Customary Law
- 4 The Quest for Customary Law in African State Courts
- 5 The Withering Province of Customary Law in Kenya
- 6 Putting Old Wine in New Wine Skins
- 7 Traditional Authorities
- 8 Engaging Legal Dualism
- 9 The Future of Customary Law in Ghana
- Part Three The Role and Power of Traditional Authorities
- Part Four Customary Land, Property Rights, and Succession
- Part Five Customary Criminal Law
- Part Six Customary Law, Human Rights, and Gender Equality
- Index
- References
5 - The Withering Province of Customary Law in Kenya
A Case of Design or Indifference?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One The Nature and Future of Customary Law
- Part Two Ascertainment, Application, and Codification of Customary Law
- 4 The Quest for Customary Law in African State Courts
- 5 The Withering Province of Customary Law in Kenya
- 6 Putting Old Wine in New Wine Skins
- 7 Traditional Authorities
- 8 Engaging Legal Dualism
- 9 The Future of Customary Law in Ghana
- Part Three The Role and Power of Traditional Authorities
- Part Four Customary Land, Property Rights, and Succession
- Part Five Customary Criminal Law
- Part Six Customary Law, Human Rights, and Gender Equality
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Customary law is recognized as one of the sources of Kenya’s laws where it is designated “African customary law.” Custom is the oldest source of law in Africa. It generated the body of law that governed the native African communities in pre-colonial Africa. The scope of customary law in the traditional African society was all-encompassing. The advent of colonial administration in Kenya in the latter part of the nineteenth century was to change that broad scope and status of customary law forever, and that regime of law has remained entangled in controversy since. The colonial administration considered customary law to be inferior to English law and initiated deliberate moves toward formalizing that perceived inferiority. So intense was that colonial influence that even later attempts at restoring the respectability of customary law in Kenya after independence have largely relegated it to further inferiority.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Future of African Customary Law , pp. 103 - 128Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
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