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IOWA LAW REVIEW
[Vol 53
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following way. 1 - 2 It is unwritten, and the rules can be traced to the
customs and practices of the people which have been handed down
to succeeding generations. The law consists of different bodies of
rules that may be invoked in different contexts. These rules are based
on conceptions of morality and depend for their effectiveness on the
approval and consent of the people. The law has evolved in response
to the pressures put upon the people by their environment. It reflects
their way of life and their adjustment to life in the particular society
and environment. Professor Allott also contends that all unwritten
customary laws, African or otherwise, resemble each other more than
any single customary system resembles any written system. 23
Moreover, customary law must be viewed in the context of a method
of resolving disputes as much as in the context of a body of law. The
emphasis is on compromise as well as adjudication. 124 By submitting
disputes to a respected figure in the community, the parties may be
persuaded to reconcile their differences. The law is more of a guide
to the resolution of disputes than a binding norm. The law itself cannot
be separated from the traditional method of resolving disputes.
In all of the colonial countries some status was accorded to customary
law, and by and large, the customary law was administered by
separate courts. 125 The jurisdiction of these courts was limited to
persons of African descent whose mode of life was that of the general
African community. 1 26 In Ethiopia, as has been pointed out, customary
law was also recognized and applied by the authorities adjudicating
disputes. When Ethiopia and the other African countries undertook
the development of a modern legal system, an obvious consideration
was the place that customary law would have in that system. There
norms in B. NwNABIEZE, MACHINERY oF JusTIcE nr NiazaEa 3 (1963).
As Hoebel put it, "A social norm is legal if its neglect or infraction is regularly
met, in threat or in fact, by the application of physical force by an individual or
group possessing the socially recognized privilege of so acting." E. HoEBEL, THE
LAW OF PRniTrE MAN 28 (1954). See T. ETs, supra note 50, at 60-75.
122 The discussion that follows is taken from A. AxLoTr, supra note 46, at 55-68.
123 Id. at 63. See also PROCEmNGS OF THE AFRIcaN CONvzRENCE ON LOCAL CoUsTS
mm Cusosmy LAw 20-24 (1960) [hereinafter cited as PsoCEEDiNGs].
124 See A. ALLoiT, supra note 46, at 68. The concern with conciliation is reflected
in the traditional judgment rendered at the end of the case. The judgment
apportions blame or praise for particular acts or omissions. The party who, on
balance, has the most points against him "loses." The judge also lectures the
parties on their duties and responsibilities. See T. ELIAS, supra note 50, at 270-72.
1 25 See Ollennu, The Influence of English Law on West Africa, 5 J. AXE. L. 21,
24-26 (1961); Pageard, supra note 57, at 463-64. For a history of the customary
courts in British Africa see PROCEEDINGS 11-13.
126 See Ollennu, supra note 125, at 25-26; Pageard, supra note 57, at 463. In
French Africa customary law was not applicable in the contractual and commercial
areas.