Perfil del niño y preadolescente desde los valores básicos.

The municipal laws in the pre-colonial Africa states were essentially derived from two principal sources. These included the

1. Customs/Religion

2. Indigenous legislation/Proclamation.

Under the customary sources, the role of the traditional religion in the different pre-colonial communities was not different from the way of life of the people. The way of life of the various pre-colonial communities was characterized by ancestral worship, rituals and traditions which

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formed the bedrock of their religion. The religious practices of the society were over time accepted and respected as given by a high supernatural being or demi-god that could not be questioned. Such religious precepts constituted part of the law of the society, which specifies what is acceptable, right, good or otherwise. They also set the moral standards of conduct in the relationship between members within each community and the entirety of the society. Another point that is sociologically relevant is the fact that the communal rituals, an aspect of the religion, depict interest and values of specific societies which relate to both domestic and political domain of social life. An example is the Adae Ceremony of the Ashanti Federation in Ghana.

The religious influence or determinant of the municipal law is manifested in many forms and often coloured by a people’s experiences, philosophy, beliefs, and social structure, as such, morality is inseparable from the formal laws. Therefore, the customs of the people of Africa became another religiously interwoven source of law. These covered many aspects of the traditional life. It could be regarded as civil or criminal in outlook, depending on the issue involved, the intensity of the offence, the scope of its impact and number of people involved. The area of coverage by the traditional/customary laws included trade, inheritance, kinship and marriage, ownership, land tenure, guardianship and cognizance was taken of such wrongs as murder, transgression or taboos, insults, assaults and defamation. In other words, the municipal laws tended to emerge with local content influenced as they were by economic, social and ecological exigencies. Established by regular practice and routine observance, that is, peremptory acceptance, the customary normative rules were recognized by the society. Put differently, they became a body of acts, practices and procedures which had accumulated over the years and became stereotyped. Therefore, disputes on what was appropriate or otherwise were settled by reference to customs and tradition which to a large extent had the force of law.

Not all customs or religious practices were incorporated, however, as part of the municipal laws. The aspect of the religious practices that made part of the municipal law in most cases provided what scholars have regarded as “negative values” or contents i.e. the don’ts, the taboos which were believed to be proscribed by the ancestors or the Supreme Being. For

customs, only those practices essential for the peaceful co-existence of the society became part of the municipal law but trivial issues were excluded from the precinct of the enforceable municipal laws. In the final analysis, for as long as an act could be shown to have been commanded by a god or ancestor or to have been practiced from time immemorial and enjoyed the sanctions of elders and ancestors, it is right and the good man has to comply. The non-compliance was tantamount to showing disrespect to the gods and threatening the welfare of the society. This was a most serious offence which was highly and severely punished. It could attract banishment or death penalty in the extreme.

Legislation or indigenous proclamation was another source of law in the pre-colonial Africa. Life then was not quite different to what we have in the modern Africa with respect to instruments of social control, most especially in pyramidal or hierarchical societies. Laws in the society were not static. They reflected the nature of ongoing development in the society. Besides what were handed down by the ancestors through animism or customary practices, there were deliberate efforts by political leadership or the entire community in the case of republican or cephalous communities to forge rules, codes and standards of behavior that could handle the exigencies of the time, regulate interpersonal relations and order social life in a particular direction for social development, common good and communal survival.

In essence, it is inaccurate to conclude that customary law was a static and immutable rule because of the alleged ancestral origin. As the supplementary principle of order, the chief either alone proclaimed law (instructive and prohibitive) or in-council which projected and reflected the current stage of social development. This was because in many places there existed legislative bodies which were not forbidden to make new laws. This provided the opportunity to respond to and meet the current needs, wishes and demands of the people. The old Oyo Empire, the Dahomey Kingdom, the Benin Kingdom, Ashanti Kingdom, to mention a few provide instances where the people had made demands up the king and the chiefs which later led to proclamations and legislation, unwritten as they were.

At another level, law-making was not the exclusive preserve of the

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paramount ruler, especially in egalitarian societies. The pre-colonial municipal law took the form of what was experienced by the ancient Greek city-states. Municipal laws were the result of joint deliberation and collective reflection.