Between Code and Custom: Middlemen as Agents of Legal Transformation in Early Anglo-Egyptian Colonial Sudan

Abstract

Departing from narratives that simplify colonial law as a top-down imposition, this work reveals how middle-ranking British officials were pivotal in shaping a hybrid and strategically manipulative legal system within Sudan’s Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. Focusing on inspectors lacking formal legal training, the analysis highlights their crucial role in exercising wide legal discretion to selectively blend elements of British Penal Codes, customary law, and a distorted interpretation of Islamic law. This pragmatic approach, driven by the interests of colonial control, allowed for the selective application of certain Islamic legal principles, even within British criminal courts, by subsuming them under the vague term "Mohammedan Law." The case of Sir Harold MacMichael offers insights into this broader trajectory, illustrating how these middlemen, themselves shaped by the colonial system, wielded agency to transform legal frameworks. Ultimately, this article demonstrates how colonial legal systems were dynamic and contested sites where hybridity was a tool of control, shaped by the selective use of Islamic elements, extensive legal discretion, and a pragmatic focus on maintaining power.