Humanism and the Law: Towards African Rennaissance

Abstract

The role of law in the ordering of human society cannot be over-emphasized. It is by law that offenders are brought to book and punished in view of deterrence and other purposes. It is also in accordance with the law that grievances should be ventilated and injuries suffered by the victims redressed. Law provides a framework of rules that determine the validity of private transactions and then leaves the individual with the option of arranging his private affairs the way he likes within the parameters of the law. Too, the regulation of administrative procedures and exercises, and formation of companies constitute a product of law. It is equally needless to mention that fiscal responsibilities and conferral of social benefits are more easily conducted by means of genuine legislations. All these social functions of law coalesce in the act of developing the human resource. Hence, law and humanism meet in the human person. This meeting presupposes that all forms of legislation and all ideas of humanism, African or western, must have the integral development of man as their target. This paper examines the different shades of humanism in African and Western thoughts and delineates the possible roles of law towards enhancing the growth of the African human capital. Key Words: Humanism, Law, African Renaissance, Development, Jurisprudence