Law, Custom, and Social Order: The Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia
This book explores the historical formation during the colonial period of that part of African law know as customary law.
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This book explores the historical formation during the colonial period of that part of African law known as customary law. Martin Chanock treats the emergence of the customary law as an aspect of the social and economic transformation of African societies under colonial rule. He argues that African presentations of "customary" law were one of the ways Africans tried to control the disrupting effects of the changes which they experiences as a consequence of colonial impositions. Chanock shows also how African ideas, aspirations, and activities regarding law, and the rudiments of customary law, were shaped by interaction with the legal ideas of the British colonizers, their understandings of African societies, and the judicial institutions of the colonial state.Chanock's book furnishes a valuable critique of approaches within the anthropology of law which either assume the existence of law in all societies, or which, by concentrating on dispute management, avoid consideration of processes of rule creation. He considers the colonial legacy in the field of law and order, and suggests a reconsideration of those legal interpretations which portray the survival of a relatively pristine African customary law unsullied by colonial contamination that is available as a foundation for an African law of the future.The author has written a new introduction for the Heinemann reissue that considers developments in legal scholarship since the original publication of his book.
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPt. ILaw, anthropology and history11Social and legal history in Central Africa32African law and anthropologists253African law and lawyers48Pt. IIRight and wrong694The lawgivers in Central Africa: social control715Witches and ordeals856The courts and the people: law in action I1037Africans and the law125Pt. IIIMen and women1438The lawgivers in Central Africa: marriage and morality1459Slaves and masters16010The courts and the people: law in action II17211Africans, law and marriage192Pt. IVDiscussion21712Writing African legal history219Notes240Bibliography272Index282
