French law supplanted customary authority in defining colonial crimes by 1912

Evidence

Given such confusion, the 1912 reform adopted a different approach to determining what constituted a punishable offense; French law was now given a dominant voice in deciding the criminality of any given action. The former distinctions of felonies, misdemeanors, and minor offenses was abolished altogether. In principle, local custom still determined what constituted a crime; in fact, Panty wrote, “the supremacy of custom has been restricted because of the necessities of our civilizing mission.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 430