African Legal Systems 275
businesses and institutions, such as the World Trade Organiza-
tion. State law may also introduce institutions which can safe-
guard and assist economic development in the face of new
threats from natural and artificial disasters, such as climate
change and the AIDS epidemic.
In the past few years international development agencies
have increasingly fostered research and discussion to determine
whether customary laws should be treated as factors in devel-
opment, and taken into account in adjusting and improving
development programs, rather than simply obstacles to devel-
opment (Tamanaha et al., 2012).
Research into African legal systems has in the past been
carried on within several disciplines. The study of customary law
has used the methods of anthropology and sociology, of state
law those of legal analysis, and of Islamic law those established
specifically within that scholarly tradition. Today there is more
interdisciplinary understanding. One consequence is renewed
concern with fundamental questions about the concept of law,
especially that as to whether customary and religious normative
orders are truly law. These debates may also raise doubts as to
whether it is appropriate to speak of ‘systems’ of law.
With indigenization and expansion of the African civil service
and academia, most research into African legal systems will in
future be conducted in Africa by African scholars. It will be
closely concerned with the practical problems just mentioned.
However, it is likely that the more fundamental theoretical issues
will continue to inspire and to be investigated by an interna-
tional community of scholars.
See also: African Studies: Culture; African Studies: History;
Development and the State; Disputes, Social Construction and
Transformation of; Globalization: Legal Aspects; Islamic Law;
Law and Development; Law as an Instrument of Social Change;
Law, Mobilization of; Law: Anthropological Aspects; Legal
Culture and Legal Consciousness; Legal Pluralism; Legal
Systems, Classification of; Postcolonial Law; Sub-Saharan
African Legal Traditions.
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