French colonial courts applied native custom only for African family disputes

Evidence

Not surprisingly, given the logistical problems and costs associated with creating a professional magistrature, Merlin’s point of view prevailed. The subsequent decree represented a triumph for the administration and, at least in theory, for the principle of respecting customary law. Under its provisions two kinds of courts were established: French and native courts. French courts, whose largely urban districts were to be determined by the governor general, had the power to adjudicate all disputes between all parties that arose within their jurisdiction, regardless of the status or nationality of those involved. They applied French law with one exception. When disputes between two Africans living within a French court’s jurisdiction were matters of family or probate law, French courts applied local custom, or, in the case of Muslims, Islamic law, to the principles in the suit. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 308

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to reading on republican France forcing its legal-administrative model onto West Africa; this judicial carve-out for family law echoes indirect-rule strategies seen in British colonies.
• DEFINE: Clarifies how the 1903 dual-court system split French from native jurisdiction in concrete operational terms.