Mapping the legacy of the past: colonial laws and customary traditions in Africa

• Autores: Matteo Nicolini
• Localización: Revista general de derecho público comparado, ISSN 1988-5091, Nº. 26, 2019
• Idioma: inglés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Dibujar las herencias del pasado: Derecho colonial y tradiciones jurídicas en África
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• Resumen
  • español

    El ensayo ofrece un análisis critico del Derecho africano y su consideración por parte de los estudios comparativos tradicionales. Se trata de una novedosa lectura de las interacciones entre el Derecho trasladado a África durante el periodo colonial y Derecho africano tradicional. El artículo desvela las actitudes coloniales y etnocéntricas sobre que se han ido construyendo las clasificaciones del mismo Derecho africano en Derecho comparado. Pues bien, el texto se centra en dos supuestos fundamentales: en primer lugar, el Derecho africano es un derecho plural, una verdadera familia de sistema jurídicos; en segundo lugar, se debe encomendar a los estudios de critical comparative law la tarea de trazar nuevos confines y demarcar las distintas áreas geográficas en que se da la relación entre herencias coloniales y tradición jurídica africana.

  • English

    The essay offers a critical survey of how comparative legal studies examine the interrelations between colonial legacies and African legal traditions. By challenging the colonial and ethnocentric attitude of mainstream comparative legal scholars, it reappraises the traditional classification of African law. Anchoring the article there are two critical contentions: firstly, that African law is a composite of different legal traditions; secondly, that critical comparative law must redraw the boundaries between the different geographical areas within which colonial legacies and African law intertwines.

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