Customary law must be taught as a stand-alone course – Prof. Anthony Diala
He also pointed out that colonization was to blame for why customary law isn’t an independent course in many African countries including Ghana.
The Director of the Centre for Legal Integration in Africa, Professor Anthony Diala, has posited that customary law be taught as an independent course and be included in the curricula of law faculties.
He argued that the English common law used today by most African countries including Ghana is made up of customary laws of European jurisdiction.
He said as African countries merge their indigenous laws with western laws, eventually, in that process of adaptation, some of the African customary laws may become lost.
“Legal history has shown, especially in the global north, that when you neglect your indigenous laws, and you adapt the laws only imposed by your conquerors, eventually, the laws imposed by your conquerors will become your customary law and your indigenous laws will disappear forever,” he said.
He further explained that most law reforms in African countries are top-down and do not reflect what happens in communities.
“So now, we are looking at legal integration and people are questioning the relevance of African customary laws. We are bringing in the imposed European laws, and nobody cares about indigenous laws. So our legal identity is already changing and we’re leaving the spirit of our laws behind,” he said.
He was speaking at an international conference on the ‘Future of Legal Education in Ghana/Africa’ on its third day of stakeholders discussions on curriculum development and teaching methodologies at the UG School of Law.
He also pointed out that colonization was to blame for why customary law isn’t an independent course in many African countries including Ghana.
Dr. Benjamin Kunbour, who is the current Chair of the Curriculum Reform and Teaching Methodologies Committee of the University of Ghana School of Law and also a speaker at the event, added in what he described as practical examples on why customary law should be an independent course.
He noted that students who study other areas of law do not have an opportunity to study the development of that law in terms of how it began, colonial encounters, the hybrid system, and what it is presently.
He also cited the example of the law on succession, pointing out that the right of succession and inheritance are different things, however, they are conflicted in the way the law of succession is taught in law schools.
“Most of what we call customary law are distortions of the actual customary practices. And these are the things you need to understand when you put customary law as a stand-alone,” he said.
