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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
A theme which has not gained much of the attention of scholars of African law is the historical development of European law and legal institutions in Africa. There is a tendency to take their “reception” for granted, as if to say that it is redundant to know how they came to be established on the African soil. By historical development is not meant simply the chronological order of events, treating law almost as a self-contained system in no way related to the environment in which it operates. A more useful approach, it is submitted, would be to evaluate the role of European law and legal institutions in the total context of African social, economic and political development. From our appreciation of the role law has played in the past in the moulding of African societies, we are likely to be more conscious than ever of the importance of law in African development. Furthermore, historical analysis of European law and legal institutions in Africa may yield some insight into the nature of African legal institutions as they are today. This paper, a plea for the historical dimension in African legal studies, discusses the role of a class of men in the English-type courts in Lagos before the legal profession, as we know it, established itself.
2 This is the approach one finds in some of the extant writings on African law. See, for example, Keay, E. A. and Richardson, S. S., The native and customary courts of Nigeria, London, 1966, Chaps. 1, 2;Google ScholarDaniels, W. C. Ekow, The common law in West Africa, London, 1964, Part 1, Chap. 1;Google ScholarElias, T. O., The Nigerian legal system, London (2nd Edn.), 1963, Part II, Chaps. 3–10;Google ScholarNwabueze, B. O.: The machinery of justice in Nigeria, London, 1963, Chaps. 2, 3.Google Scholar
3 Payne, J. A. Otonba, Table of principal events in Yoruba history, Lagos, 1893, p. 12.Google Scholar
4 The Supreme Court Ordinance, No. 11 of 1863.
5 Ordinance No. 3 of 1863.
6 Elias, The Nigerian legal system, p. 52.
page 99 note 1 Gordon, Jay, The development of the legal system in the Colony of Lagos, 1862–1905, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, London University, 1967, p. 126.Google Scholar
page 99 note 2 John H. Glover to Captain Kendall, 16 November, 1869; C.S.O. 1/8, VB (National Archives, Ibadan, hereafter referred to as N.A.I.).
page 99 note 3 Fowler to Pope Hennessy, 8th November, 1872; N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, XIIIB.
page 99 note 4 Glover to Kennedy, 5th August, 1869; N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VA.
page 99 note 5 The Anglo-African, 10th October, 1863, editorial.
page 99 note 6 Supreme Court Ordinance, No. 4 of 1876, Order VIII, s. 5.
page 100 note 1 Strahan to Carnarvon, 31st March, 1876: C.O. 96/118.
page 100 note 2 D. P. Chalmers to Colonial Office, 3rd June, 1873, C.O. 96/114.
page 100 note 3 Chief Magistrate's Minute Book, May, 1872—August, 1876, pp. 193–199 (Supreme Court Archives, Lagos, hereafter referred to as S.C.A.).
page 100 note 4 Compare Regina v. Moses Williams and Regina v. Adebajo both tried in 1872: Chief Magistrate's Minute Book, May 1872—August 1876, S.C.A.
page 101 note 1 The Anglo-African, 24th June, 1865, editorial.
page 101 note 2 Ibid.
page 101 note 3 By 1894 there were 150 Europeans resident in Lagos; by 1912, 1,648: Blue Book for 1894 and Blue Book for 1912, Lagos, 1895, 1913 pp. 54 and R4 respectively. On the Sierra Leonean immigrants in Lagos, see Kopytoff, J. H., A preface to modern Nigeria, Madison, 1965.Google Scholar
page 101 note 4 D. P. Chalmers to Administrator-in-Chief, Sierra Leone, 3rd June, 1873, C.O. 96/114.
page 102 note 1 Fyfe, C., A history of Sierra Leone, London, 1962, pp. 147–148.Google Scholar
page 102 note 2 Ibid.
page 102 note 3 Kimble, David, A political history of Ghana, 1850–1928, Oxford, 1963, pp. 68–70.Google Scholar
page 102 note 4 Conran to Cardwell, 7th October, 1865, C. O. 96/68.
page 102 note 5 Lagos Weekly Record, 22nd March, 1913.
page 102 note 6 Kimble, p. 70.
page 103 note 1 Glover to Kennedy, 28th March, 1871: N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VIIIB.
page 103 note 2 Supreme Court Ordinance, No. 4 of 1876, s. 71.
page 103 note 3 Section 73.
page 103 note 4 Section 74.
page 103 note 5 Order VIII, s. 4.
page 103 note 6 Order VIII, s. 2.
page 104 note 1 The Anglo-African, 30th July, 1864.
page 104 note 2 Simpson to Kennedy, 20th October, 1870, enclosure: N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VIIB.
page 104 note 3 Payne, J. A. Otonba, Payne's Lagos and West African Almanack and Diary for 1894, London 1893, 37.Google Scholar
page 104 note 4 Ibid.
page 104 note 5 Glover to Kennedy, 28th March, 1871: N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VIIIB.
page 104 note 6 Berkeley to Administrator-in-Chief, 17th April. 1873, enclosure: N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, XV.
page 104 note 7 Payne to MacIver, 8th October, 1878: Letter Book, April 1877—August 1881, S.C.A.
page 104 note 8 African Times, 1st February, 1881.
page 105 note 1 Roll of Barristers, I, p. 62, S.C.A.
page 105 note 2 African Times, 6th October, 1899.
page 105 note 3 Judge's Notebook, Criminal Cases, November, 1881—January, 1885, S.C.A.
page 105 note 4 Roll of Barristers, I, pp. 85–86.
page 105 note 5 Schofield to James George, 13th July, 1900: Record Book of Miscellaneous Papers, July, 1898—August, 1907, S.C.A.
page 105 note 6 Interview with Chief Ayodele Williams, B.L., Lagos, 28th February, 1967.
page 105 note 7 Lugard to Bonar Law, 20th January, 1961: enclosure, C.O. 583/44.
page 105 note 8 Enclosure to despatch of 15th December, 1915 to the Colonial Office: N.A.I., C.S.O. 19/N 178/1916.
page 106 note 1 Foresythe to Glover, 12th August, 1869, memorandum by Glover: N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VIIB.
page 106 note 2 C.C. Lee to Berkeley, 6th October, 1873: enclosure, N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, XXIIA.
page 106 note 3 Berkeley to Administrator-in-Chief, 17th April, 1873: enclosure, N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, XV.
page 106 note 4 Payne, Payne's Lagos and West African Almanack and Diary for 1894, p. 39.
page 106 note 5 Hopkins, A. G., An economic history of Lagos, 1880–1914. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, London University, 1964, p. 26.Google Scholar
page 106 note 6 Simpson to Kennedy, 16th September, 1870; N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VIIB.
page 106 note 7 Foresythe to Glover, 12th August, 1869: N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VIIB.
page 106 note 8 Compare Charles Foresythe v. Lawini Malade (1879): Record Book: Civil Cases, 1878–1880, p. 177, S.C.A.
page 107 note 1 Payne, A History of the Old Lagos Law Courts, unpublished MS at the National Archives, Ibadan, dated 1904, p. 1.
page 107 note 2 An illustration of the use of the indigenous and the English-type courts by litigants to resolve the same dispute is provided by Banjoko v. Tiwo (1877): Judge's Notebook, Civil Cases, 1877–1878, pp. 93–97.
page 107 note 3 Foresythe v. Adam, alias Odi: Record Book: Civil Cases, 1878–1880, p. 396.
page 107 note 4 Lagos Weekly Record, 6th May, 1893.
page 107 note 5 Judge's Notebook in Civil Cases, Lagos, 1877–1878, entry for 3rd April, 1878, S.C.A.
page 108 note 1 Criminal Record, 1871–1875, S.C.A.
page 108 note 2 Sapara Williams and six others to Smalman Smith, 12th January, 1895: Letter Books, 1893–1896, p. 169 S.C.A.
page 108 note 3 Roll of Barristers, I.
page 108 note 4 Geary, Sir William N. M., Nigeria under British rule, London, New Imp., 1965, p. 11Google Scholar
page 109 note 1 Supreme Court Ordinance, 1876, Order VIII, ss. 9–12.
page 109 note 2 Payne to Porter, Turton and Foresythe, 29th June, 1877; Letter Book, April, 1877—August, 1881. S.C.A.
page 109 note 3 Payne to MacIver, 18th February, 1879; Payne to MacIver, 11th March, 1879; Letter Book, April, 1877—August, 1881.
page 109 note 4 Payne to Foresythe, 28th April, 1879: Letter Book, April, 1877—August, 1881.
page 109 note 5 African Times, 1st August, 1881.
page 110 note 1 African Times, 1st October, 1881.
page 110 note 2 Payne to Foresythe, 13th July, 1877: Letter Book.
page 110 note 3 Payne to Foresythe, 28th April, 1879: Letter Book.
page 110 note 4 Dada v. Foresythe, 15th June, 1880: Judge's Notebook, March, 1879—October, 1880, S.C.A.
page 110 note 5 Payne to Foresythe, 2nd December, 1879: Letter Book.
page 110 note 6 Payne to Foresythe, 7th October, 1880; Letter Book.
page 110 note 7 Griffith to Ussher, 2nd December, 1880: enclosures, N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/10, XXVIII.
page 110 note 8 Griffith to Ussher, 8th November, 1880: enclosure, N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/10, XXVII.
page 110 note 9 Turton to Griffith, 15th December, 1880: enclosure, N.A.I., C.S.I. C.S.O. 1/10, XXVIII.
page 111 note 1 Payne to Foresythe, 27th July, 1881: Letter Book.
page 111 note 2 Macleod to James Marshall, 11th May, 1880: Letter Book.
page 111 note 3 Glover to Administrator-in-Chief, 16th November, 1869: N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VB.
page 111 note 4 Glover to Administrator-in-Chief, 16th November, 1869: enclosure, N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, VB.
page 111 note 5 Kennedy to Granville, 14th March, 1870, C.O. 147/17.
page 111 note 6 Kennedy to Kimberley, 27th November, 1871, enclosure, C.O. 147/17.
page 111 note 7 Record Book of Civil Cases, September, 1878—September, 1880, Civil Record Book: Chief Justice's Notebook, February 1887—August 1890, S.C.A.
page 111 note 8 African Times, 2nd May, 1881.
page 112 note 1 Berkeley to Administrator-in-Chief, 17th April, 1873: enclosure, N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/8, XV.
page 112 note 2 Griffith to Ussher, 8th November, 1880: enclosure, N.A.I., C.S.O. 1/10, XXVII.
page 113 note 1 Payne, Payne's Lagos and West African Almanack and Diary for 1894, Preface to the 8th Edition, 12.
page 113 note 2 , Payne, Table of Principal Events in Yoruba History, Lagos, 1893.Google Scholar
page 114 note 1 Secretary of State for the Colonies to Officer Administering the Government, Gold Coast, 17th.July, 1874, C.O. 96/114.
page 114 note 2 Chalmers to Administrator-in-Chief, 3rd June, 1873, C.O. 96/114.
page 114 note 3 For more details, see Adewoye, O., The Legal Profession in Southern Nigeria, 1863–1943, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University, 1968, Chaps. III, IV.Google Scholar
page 114 note 4 Elias, The Nigerian Legal System, p. 363.
