French colonial rule banned Arabic from native courts and official acts in 1911

Evidence

In 1911, he took the dramatic step of insisting that henceforth only French be used in native courts (even Muslim ones) and “all administrative acts destined to be made known to the natives.” Until that time, Dakar had allowed Arabic to be used in the courts as well as in official correspondence. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 460

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to settler-colonial and linguistic-assimilation literature; bears on the reader’s interest in imposed republican institutions in West Africa (e.g., relegating indigenous language like Arabic in courts).