Revisiting Gender and Marriage: Runaway Wives, Native Law and Custom, and the Native Courts in Colonial Abeokuta, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

This study focuses on women and colonial courts in Abeokuta, southwestern Nigeria, in the early decades of the twentieth century. It examines the effects of colonial intervention on women and marriage. Examining case volumes of the Ake, Abeokuta, Native Court from 1905 to 1957, the study demonstrates that unique circumstances of the twentieth century—colonial intervention and the establishment of the native courts—led to the increase of divorce rate accelerated by the phenomenon of wives leaving matrimonial homes, establishing new unions of their choice, and approaching the court to end earlier unions and legalize the new ones. The study argues that, despite the negative connotations that might be associated with wives leaving matrimonial homes and requesting divorce in colonial courts, these women made use of the new circumstances to redefine marriage, inserting modifications reflective of women’s choices and preferences, as evidenced through their claims collected from the court records.