Prelude to the Legal Profession in Lagos 1861–1880

Abstract

A theme which has not gained much of the attention of scholars of African law is the historical development of European law and legal institutions in Africa. There is a tendency to take their “reception” for granted, as if to say that it is redundant to know how they came to be established on the African soil. By historical development is not meant simply the chronological order of events, treating law almost as a self-contained system in no way related to the environment in which it operates. A more useful approach, it is submitted, would be to evaluate the role of European law and legal institutions in the total context of African social, economic and political development. From our appreciation of the role law has played in the past in the moulding of African societies, we are likely to be more conscious than ever of the importance of law in African development. Furthermore, historical analysis of European law and legal institutions in Africa may yield some insight into the nature of African legal institutions as they are today. This paper, a plea for the historical dimension in African legal studies, discusses the role of a class of men in the English-type courts in Lagos before the legal profession, as we know it, established itself.