The Republic of Senegal has embarked upon a project to reform its private law. This fact, of itself, might not seem worthy of the attention of the legal profession in the United States, since Senegal is a country of only about 3,250,000 inhabitants, less than the population of the state of Alabama, covering only 76,000 square miles, less than the area of the state of Kansas, and having a total of exports and imports to the dollar zone of less than twelve million dollars in 1962. With twenty per cent of its population in its six largest cities of more than 30,000 inhabitants, it is the most urban, most literate, and most Europeanized of the francophonic countries of sub-Saharan Africa, but this alone would evoke little interest abroad in its attempts at law reform.

The recent proliferation of independent African nations with varying legal and governmental backgrounds has given comparativists an unprecedented amount of subject matter which has already resulted in a number of comparative studies.2 So far, however, there is a dearth of material concerning the varied and already numerous constitutions of the new states.3

A nation's legal institutions must be established and maintained with a view not only toward administrative convenience, but also in accordance with the deep-rooted traditions of the people. Legal institutions superimposed upon a people without regard to their traditions and needs will never have the confidence of the people. Because of Ethiopia's status as an independent nation it has been possible for its legal institutions to be established and developed in accordance with the needs and desires of the Ethiopian people. A rich legal tradition, distinctly Ethiopian in character, has emerged. Ethiopia does not have the common law tradition, which was imposed upon nations of Africa that formerly were British colonies; it does not have that kind of civil law tradition that was imposed upon nations of Africa that formerly were colonies of continental states. The significance of law in Ethiopia and the importance of justice to the Ethiopian people have long been recognized by many scholars.1

With the commencement of the Native Courts (Amendment) Law, 1961, the Government of the Northern Region of Nigeria abolished “opting out”, an experiment with jurisdiction which must surely be unique within the history of modern legal systems and therefore worthy of recording before the facts are obscured and lest any other African state, faced with similar difficulties, is tempted to adopt this expedient as a temporary palliative to meet a similar situation. It is all the more desirable to publish the facts since the strong case for abolition presented by the Northern Regional Government is in danger of being lost by default. On 14th October, 1961, the Daily Service in Nigeria published a bitter attack on the Native Courts (Amendment) Law, 1961, under the title “The light goes out in the North”.

The Tonga are situated in the Nkata Bay area of the Northern Province while the Lomwe are grouped round Chiradzulu and Mlanje in the Southern Province. Both tribes have a matrilineal system of succession, but in many other respects their tribal laws and customs diverge. This discussion will be confined to family law and custom.

Courts administering African customary law in addition, as a rule, to statute law within specified limits, have been characteristic of territories in Africa with a background of British colonial administration. Such courts operate or operated in both urban and rural areas and have been known at various times in different territories as native courts, local courts or customary courts. A general account of these courts and the nature of the dualism produced by their existence side by side with other courts of the judiciary is provided by R. E. Robinson.

Legitimacy constitutes an important aspect of Nigerian law. It has the strongest link with the allied question of succession. Most disputes as to legitimacy arise in relation to the right to succeed to property either testate or intestate. Consequently, although this paper does not deal with the detailed rules of succession we shall make several references to those rules.