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Opting out of the common law: recent developments in the legal system of the Sudan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Extract

On October 1st, 1972, the Minister of Justice of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan constituted a committee consisting of 25 leading members of the Sudanese Legal Profession for the purpose of “re-examining fully the Sudan Civil Code, 1971, the Civil Procedure Code, 1972, the Civil Evidence Code, 1972, and the draft Penal and Commercial Codes”. The Committee was requested to recommend to the Minister whether all or any of the aforementioned codes should be abrogated, temporarily suspended (if already in force), kept as it is, or amended. The Committee was asked to submit its findings and recommendations as soon as possible and was authorised “to receive evidence from experts as well as from those directly connected with the application of the law”.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1973

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References

2 Address of the Minister of Justice on the occasion of the promulgation of the Sudan Civil Code, published in the Special Legislative Supplement to the Sudan Gazette No. 1117 of May 3 1st, 1971, at p. 281.

page 134 note 1 The efforts of this section materialised in producing a translation for the Sudan Penal Code only.

page 134 note 2 Special Supplement to the Government of the Sudan Gazette containing the National Charter and the Transitional Constitution of the Sudan, at p. ii. Credit for the contents and drafting of these provisions goes to Sayd Babiker Awadalla who was at the time deputy Chief Justice and who after May, 1969, held various important posts, including that of Minister of Justice at the time when the Civil Code was promulgated.

page 134 note 3 Transitional Constitution of the Sudan Amendment No. 4 1966; P.O. No. 17 of 1967 and P.O. No. 24 of 1967.

page 135 note 1 Set up under the Law Reform Commission Act, 1966.

page 135 note 2 P.O. No. 20 of 1968.

page 135 note 3 The Law Commission Act, 1970.

page 135 note 4 Introduction to the Explanatory Memorandum to the Civil Code, vol. 1, p. 3.

page 135 note 5 Act No. 29 of 1971.

page 136 note 1 Ss. 1–11.

page 136 note 2 Ss. 13–36.

page 136 note 3 Ss. 37–57.

page 136 note 4 Ss. 58–73.

page 136 note 5 Ss. 73–355-Obligations are treated as including the general principles of the law of contract, tort, unjust enrichment and unilateral acts.

page 136 note 6 Ss. 356–683.

page 136 note 7 Ss. 684–917.

page 136 note 8 For unlawful exercise of rights, see ss. 71 and 72 S.C.C. and ss. 4 and 5 E.C.C.

page 136 note 9 For capacity, see ss. 37–57 S.C.C. and ss. 29–88 E.C.C.

page 136 note 10 For novation, see ss. 291–298 S.C.C. and ss. 315–322 E.C.C.

page 136 note 11 For gifts, see ss. 420–434 S.C.C. and 486–504 E.C.C.

page 136 note 12 For pre-emption, see ss. 746–760 S.C.C.

page 163 note 13 Pp. 9–10, Explanatory Memorandum, op. cit.

page 137 note 1 Ss. 71 and 72.

page 137 note 2 See Vol. 1, pp. 83–86.

page 137 note 3 Ss. 37–57.

page 137 note 4 See Vol. 1, pp. 56–70.

page 137 note 5 Ss. 291–298.

page 137 note 6 Vol. 1, pp. 347–353.

page 137 note 7 Ss. 420–434.

page 137 note 8 There are no equivalents in the Sudan Civil Code to ss. 487, 490 and 497–499 of the Egyptian Civil Code.

page 137 note 9 With the exception of ss. 476, 479 and 486–489.

page 137 note 10 Vol. 11, pp. 506–524.

page 137 note 11 This is section 432 of the Sudan Civil Code, and it was copied from section 670 of the draft Egyptian Civil Code.

page 137 note 12 Ss. 746–760.

page 137 note 13 Act, p. 954.

page 138 note 1 The Pre-Emption Ordinance 1928, Laws of the Sudan Vol. 7, Title XX; sub-Title 3.

page 138 note 2 Vol. 11, pp. 954–971.

page 138 note 3 See pp. 5–7, Explanatory Memorandum.

page 138 note 4 Compare s. 52 of E.C.C. with s. 56 of S.C.C.

page 139 note 1 For a detailed discussion of these see Mustafa, Z., The Common Law in the Sudan, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1971.Google Scholar

page 139 note 2 This is done by s. 4 which provides: “The court shall apply legislative rules and shall interpret them in consonance with the socialist philosophy of the State. If no relevant legislative rule is available, the court shall apply the general principles of the Sharia, if none is available then it shall decide the matter in accordance with tradition provided it is not inconsistent with public policy or morality, and if none is available, then in accordance with the principles of natural justice and equity”.

page 139 note 3 Egyptian Civil Code, Part 11, Chapter 4.

page 139 note 4 One wonders whether the courts have been deciding partnership cases in accordance with Sharia principles or the principles of customary law since the Code came into effect.

page 139 note 5 The equivalent provision in the Egyptian Civil Code states that a juristic person shall have its own patrimonium (proprietary rights). Patrimonium is then defined in a footnote as meaning the mass of legal relationships, of pecuniary value, which constitute the assets and liabilities of an individual or a juristic person.

page 141 note 1 [1932] A.C. 562.

page 142 note 1 [1941] 2 All E.R. 205.

page 142 note 2 [1923] A.C. 20.

page 143 note 1 S. 5(1) sanctions the application of customary law to matters affecting the personal status of non-Muslim Sudanese nationals.

page 143 note 2 Civil Code of the Empire of Ethiopia: Proclamation No. 165 of 1960, at p. VII.

page 144 note 1 The Minister of Justice was asked about this at the meeting of the People' Council held on October 16th, 1972. He admitted that cases were accumulating, but gave reasons not related to the Civil Code for this phenomenon.

page 144 note 2 These were promulgated and came into force on July 1st, 1972.

page 145 note 1 The Commercial and Penal Codes are still in draft, and the Minister of Justice has not taken any steps to promulgate them.

page 145 note 2 These are the Criminal Procedure Code, the Companies Code, the Maritime Code, and the Personal Law Code.

page 145 note 3 This Code was first introduced in 1899 and was adapted from the Indian Penal Code. It was subjected to very extensive revision in 1925. Since then various minor amendments have been introduced at various times.