African Law

Legal materials: A good source for information about African legal materials isSources of Online Legal Information for African Countries by Jane Williams. You may also be able to find an article on an individual African country in the Foreign Research section of Globalex, the African Legal Information Institute or the Guide to Online Law. See also the “Foreign Laws” entry in this Guide.

Subscription Services: The Foreign Law Guide (formerly by Reynolds and Flores) discusses each country’s primary legal materials and lists the treatises available in various subject areas. RIA’s World Wide Tax Law Service on Checkpoint has English translations of corporate, commercial, tax and other business-related laws.

Organization of African Unity (OAU) / African Union (AU): The OAU was formed in 1963 “to promote the unity and solidarity of African States; co-ordinate and intensify their co-operation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa; defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence; eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa; promote international co-operation, giving due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and co-ordinate and harmonise members’ political, diplomatic, economic, educational, cultural, health, welfare, scientific, technical and defence policies.” In 2001, the OAU became the African Union. As of 2010, all African nations except Morocco were members of the AU.

The African Union web site provides information about the AU and its member states. The “Documents” section has AU decisions, reports and treaties.

For more information, see Introduction to the Norms and Institutions of the African Union by Girmachew Alemu Aneme.

Southern African Development Community: See An Introduction to the Law of the Southern African Development Community by Dunia P. Zongwe. The SADC “is a regional economic community composed of 15 countries in Southern Africa (member states), namely Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.”

History of the African Law

African Law in the Precolonial Period

For more information about this section, in the context of the legal history, see the main entry in this legal encyclopedia.

African Law in the Colonial Period

For more information about this section, in the context of the legal history, see the main entry in this legal encyclopedia.

African Law after Independence

For more information about this section, in the context of the legal history, see the main entry in this legal encyclopedia.

The Legal History of African Law, Sub-Saharan

This section provides an overview of African Law, Sub-Saharan

Resources

See Also

• Legal Biography
• Legal Traditions
• Historical Laws
• History of Law

Further Reading

• African Law, Sub-Saharan in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History (Oxford University Press)
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History (Oxford University Press)
• African Law, Sub-Saharan in the Dictionary of Concepts in History, by Harry Ritter
• A Short History of Western Legal Theory, by John Kelly