Law, Custom and Social Order: The Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia (African Studies)

BOOKS IN THIS SERIES 4 The Nigerian Military: A Sociological Analysis ofAuthority and Revolt 1960-1967 Robin Luckham 6 Labour in the South African Gold Mines, 1911-1969 Francis Wilson 9 Dependence and Opportunity: Political Change in Ahafo John Dunn and A. F. Robertson 11 Islam and Tribal Art in West Africa Rene A. Bravmann 14 Culture, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel Emmanuel Obiechina 15 Saints and Politicians: Essays in the Organisation of a Senegalese Peasant Society Donal B. Cruise O'Brien 17 Politics of Decolonisation: Kenya Europeans and the Land Issue 1960-1965 Gary Wasserman 18 Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-century Africa B. G. Martin 19 Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate: Historical and Sociological Perspectives Joseph P. Smaldone 20 Liberia and Sierra Leone: An Essay in Comparative Politics Christopher Clapham 23 West African States: Failure and Promise: A Study in Comparative Politics John Dunn 24 Afrikaners ofthe J(.alahari: White Minority in a Black State Margo and Martin Russell 25 A Modern History of Tanganyika John Iliffe 26 A History ofAfrican Christianity 1950-1975 Adrian Hastings 27 Slaves, Peasants and Capitalists in Southern Angola 1840-1926 W. G. Clarence-Smith 28 The Hidden Hippopotamus: Reappraisal in African History: The Early Colonial Experience in Western Zambia Gwyn Prins 29 Families Divided: The Impact of Migrant Labour in Lesotho Colin Murray 30 Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960 Patrick Manning 31 Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires: The Evolution and Dissolution of the Nineteenth-century Swazi State Philip Bonner 32 Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayyid Mahammad 'Abdille Hasan Said S. Samatar 33 The Political Economy of Pondoland 1860-1930: Production, Labour, Migrancyand Chiefs in Rural South Africa William Beinart 34 Volkskapitalisme: Class, Capital and Ideology in the Development of Afrikaner Nationalism 1934-1948 Dan O'Meara 35 The Settler Economies: Studies in the Economic History of Kenya and Rhodesia 1900-1963 Paul Mosley 36 Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa Paul E. Lovejoy 37 Amilcar Cabral: Revolutionary Leadership and People's War Patrick Chabal 38 Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa Robert H. Bates 39 Ijeshas and Nigerians: The Incorporation ofa Yoruba Kingdom, 1890s-1970s J. D. Y. . Peel 40 Black People and the South African War 1899-1902 Peter Warwick 41 A History of Niger 1850-1960 Finn Fuglestad 42 Industrialisation and Trade Union Organisation in South Africa 1924-55 Jon Lewis 43 The Rising of the Red Shawls: A Revolt in Madagascar 1895-1899 Stephen Ellis 44 Slavery in Dutch South Africa Nigel Worden

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LA W, CUSTOM AND SOCIAL ORDER The Colonial Experience in .Malawi and Zambia

MARTIN CHANOCK Senior Lecturer in Legal Studies LaTrobe University, Melbourne

The right oj the University oj Cambridge to print and self

all manner oj books was granted by Henry Vl/l in /534. The University has printed and published continuously

since 1584.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE LONDON

NEW YORK

MELBOURNE

SYDNEY

NEW ROCHELLE

1

Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP 32 East 57th Street, New York, NY10022, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia

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© Cambridge University Press 1985 First published 1985 Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge Library of Congress catalogue card number: 84-23207 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Chanock, Martin Law, custom and social order: the colonial experience in Malawi and Zambia. - (African studies series; no. 45) 1. Customary Law - Malawi - History 2. Customary law - Zambia - History 1. Title II. Series 340.5'2'6897 [LAW] ISBN 0 521 30137 8

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Contents

Preface Acknowledgements

page

Part I Law, anthropology and history

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-0social and legal history in Central Africa \4

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3 25 48

2 African law and anthropologists;{

41'l'> 3 African law and lawyers

69 71 85 103 125

Part II Right and wrong -44 The lawgivers in Central Africa: social control ).' 5 Witches and ordeals

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-. 6 'I The courts and the people: law in action I,': Africans and the law

143 145 160 172 192 .'~.

Part III Men and women

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8 The lawgivers in Central Africa: marriage and morality ..

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9 Slaves and masters·

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The courts and the people: law in action II / Africans, law and marriage

Part IV Discussion

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IX

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217 219

Writing African legal history

240 272 282

Notes Bibliography Index Vll

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