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The law in Africa is multifaceted, defined by a combination of customary, religious, common and western civil law and legal traditions. Comprising of fifty-six nations, the African continent is the second largest in the world and is home to a diversity of legal practices, unique with their cultural and historical influences.

Prior to the colonial era in the nineteenth century, Africa’s legal system was dominated by the traditional laws of the native people. The efforts to maintain the indigenous practices against the rising Continental European and Great British powers, though unsuccessful, provoked the development of existing customary laws via the establishment of ‘Native Courts’ (Joireman, 2001). While the colonies were governed by the imported legal system and civil codes of the metropoles, the practice of traditional laws continued under supervision, with its jurisdiction restricted to only African citizens.

Following its absolute political independence in the late 1970s, post-colonial Africa continued to employ these introduced laws, with some nations preserving the colonial legislation more than others. In contemporary Africa, the African Union is involved in the development of the continent’s legal matters with objectives to promote democratic institutions, encourage unity between the legal systems of the African countries, improve international relations and protect human rights.

History of African Law
The law of Africa exists as a conglomerate of legal practices and systems, otherwise labelled as legal pluralism (Okeke, 2011). This is derived from its traditional ancestry, diverse colonial legacy and post-independence. Prior to colonisation, the indigenous laws of the African continent were implemented based on the customs and practice of tribal populations (Ndulo, 2011). Formal courts did not exist, but the natives followed these traditions as a means of settling communal matters from which the operation of such legal adjudication depended on the political development of each native circle. Despite the legislative advancements of respective communities, all indigenous laws were uncodified and exclusively managed through oral practice (Milner, 1967). By the early 1900s, along with the dominant colonial powers of France and Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Portugal and Italy had gained political control over numerous African nations. Upon colonisation, the British and European empires prioritised the establishment of the common law and civilian law respectively in their own colonies (Joireman, 2001). In response to these foreign politics, the African authorities promptly developed their indigenous practices and customs into a formal legal system introduced as customary law, administered by the newly established Native Courts (Joireman, 2001). As the imported doctrines and codes took precedence in their associated metropoles, these efforts were largely unsuccessful. However, the British policy enabled the customary laws to operate within local communities under the governance of colonial legislation executed by judges and magistrates; with its jurisdiction restricted to only African citizens (Milner, 1967).

The decolonisation of Africa began with the events of World War I which observed a rise in resistance against foreign authorities (Birmingham, 1995). Germany was one of the first European continental powers to lose their control over Southwest Africa, followed by the retreat of the Italian, Belgium, Portugal, and Spanish forces by 1976. The liberation of India and Asian colonies further inspired the struggle for independence (Woodruff, 1998). Ghana was one of the first British colonies to be granted independence in 1957, with Southern Rhodesia not being freed until 1980. Comparatively, French colonies first granted independence to Tunisia and Morocco in 1956 and finally retreated from the continent after liberating Djibouti more than 20 years later in 1977. After achieving absolute independence, the African nations were obliged to reconcile the different legal practices, into a unified form that would be suitable for the state and its people (Okeke, 2011). The means of achieving this differed between nations, as Nigeria and Kenya for example, were inclined to further adopt the British legislation following independence (Joireman, 2001). As they were familiar with the foreign institutions, rather than constructing a legal system of their own, lawyers were sent to the United Kingdom to further study the common laws (---) However, the application of these various sources of law proved to be unsuccessful as they did not cater for the African populace as initially presumed (Okeke, 2011) Hence, pluralistic systems were devised by nations that combined the customary law, inherited penal codes and religious laws depending on the ancestral history, colonial legacy and dominant theology specific to their geography.

Customary Law
Customary law is derived from the traditional customs and practices of the various indigenous groups of Africa (Ndulo, 2011). Due to the diversity of traditional practices originating from diverse tribal populations, African customary law is not a uniform set of customs of any given country, rather there are variations between regional areas depending on the ethnic origin. (Milner, 1967). In most African countries, the customary law governs personal matters and communal issues such as disputes on land possession and appointing a successive chief. The establishment of the Native Courts and the formal introduction of customary law was a revolutionary development in Africa; however, the official codification of such unwritten laws occurred after decolonisation (Okeke, 2011).

Western Law
The basis of Western law in Africa is characterised by the English common law and continental European civil law. Derived from Roman traditions, the European systems of justice were characterised by the objective to expand an empire and regulate the citizens via the inquisitorial system. Comparatively, the introduction of common law from British colonisers introduced the notion of protecting individual rights from the state with an adversarial system of justice by which disputes are settled in the presence of a jury and judge (Joireman, 2001).

Religious Law
Islam, Christianity and African traditional religions are the dominant faiths in Africa with Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism being exclusive to regions and their populations (Green, 2008). In many tribal societies, religion is perceived as a product of Western colonialism, responsible for the diminution of traditional religious practices (Green, 2008). Hence, foreign religions are condemned in native circles and proscribed from the customary laws and institutions that they follow.

Law by Countries

 * Law of Algeria
 * Law of Angola
 * Law of Benin
 * Law of Botswana
 * Law of Burkina Faso
 * Law of Burundi
 * Law of Cameroon
 * Law of Canary Islands
 * Law of Cape Verde
 * Law of Central African Republic
 * Law of Ceuta
 * Law of Chad
 * Law of Comoros
 * Law of Côte d'Ivoire
 * Law of Democratic Republic of Congo
 * Law of Djibouti
 * Law of Egypt
 * Law of Equatorial Guinea
 * Law of Eritrea
 * Law of Ethiopia
 * Law of Gabon
 * Law of Gambia
 * Law of Ghana
 * Law of Guinea
 * Law of Guinea-Bissau
 * Law of Kenya
 * Law of Lesotho
 * Law of Liberia
 * Law of Libya
 * Law of Madagascar
 * Law of Madera
 * Law of Malawi
 * Law of Mali
 * Law of Mauritania
 * Law of Mauritius
 * Law of Mayotte
 * Law of Melilla
 * Law of Morocco
 * Law of Mozambique
 * Law of Namibia
 * Law of Niger
 * Law of Nigeria
 * Law of Republic of Congo
 * Law of Réunion
 * Law of Rwanda
 * Law of Saint Helena
 * Law of São Tomé and Príncipe
 * Law of Senegal
 * Law of Seychelles
 * Law of Sierra Leone
 * Law of Somalia
 * Law of South Africa
 * Law of Sudan
 * Law of Swaziland
 * Law of Tanzania
 * Law of Togo
 * Law of Tunisia
 * Law of Uganda
 * Law of Western Sahara
 * Law of Zambia
 * Law of Zimbabwe

African Union
The African Union (AU) is a pan-African organisation formally established in July 2002. The Union was further developed from its predecessor, The Organisation of African Unity and modelled using the framework of the European Union. The primary objective of the AU was to encourage political cooperation between the African states and promote intercontinental economic progression. In order to achieve these goals, the Constitutive Act of the African Union and Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act, were designed as strategic frameworks.