The Structure, Composition and Jurisdiction of Courts and Authorities Enforcing the Criminal law in British African Territories

Abstract

THE object of this article is to give a generalised but accurate picture of the machinery of law enforcement in those African territories which are or have until recently been under British rule. The method that has been used is to compare the legal systems of nine selected territories, obtaining an historical as well as a comparative perspective by selecting territories at differing stages of development. The territories selected comprise the three East African territories of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika; the three components of the Central African Federation, Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland; and three West African countries, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Eastern Region of Nigeria. Since 1954 Nigeria has been a federation with an independent court system in each Region. The territories discussed thus cover a wide field geographically, while politically they range from Sierra Leone, a most backward colony, to Ghana, a State independent within the Commonwealth. As will be seen, the tempos of legal and political development are closely linked. All these territories with the exception of Sierra Leone have codified their substantive criminal law.2 All have codes of criminal