Repugnant Customs and Alien Courts

Abstract This chapter examines the ambivalent place of African customary law in the colonial legal system, the tensions arising from conflicting systems of laws and the role of the JCPC and the regional Courts of Appeal in interpreting and applying African customary laws. Focusing on debates over ‘native assessors’ in the colonial courts, native tribunals and the ‘doctrine of repugnancy’, it explores how the tension between …