French magistrates deliberately applied republican penal law over West African custom

Evidence

This extension of the Chambre’s powers, like Panty’s other measures, marked yet another step in imposing French principles of criminal justice upon Africans; the French judges sitting on the court were now openly encouraged to apply French law over customary law when the two conflicted or when custom was silent on a point included in France’s penal code. The records of the Chambre confirm, moreover, that-true to Panty’s wishes-the judges were willing to carry out their prescribed role as civilizers. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 436