Colonial legal systems in Africa were not neutral administrative arrangements. They were deliberate political constructions designed to consolidate imperial power while preserving the appearance of continuity with existing legal institutions. This book provides a sustained legal-historical account of how the British built and operated such a system in Northern Nigeria between 1900 and 1960.Drawing on an extensive range of sources, including Fulani jihad literature, colonial reports, court records, legal writings, memoirs, and the underutilised Hausa-language newspaper Gaskiya ta fi Kwabo, the book reconstructs the development of a plural legal order that combined English and Islamic law under colonial rule. It demonstrates that the jurisdictional ambiguities created by overlapping English and Islamic legal institutions enabled British officials to consolidate colonial authority, while providing opportunities for enslaved women, colonial-trained Islamic jurists, and anti-colonial activists to challenge, negotiate, and reshape that authority from within.This volume will be essential reading for researchers and students of African history, colonial history, Islamic legal history, and socio-legal studies. It will also appeal to readers interested in the relationship between law, power, and resistance in colonial and postcolonial societies.
Format: Hardback
CONTRIBUTORS: Femi Owolade
EAN: 9781041267355
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
PAGES: 200
WEIGHT:
HEIGHT: 229 mm
PUBLISHED BY: Taylor & Francis Ltd
DATE PUBLISHED: 2026-12-07
CITY:
GENRE: HISTORY / Africa / South / General, HISTORY / World, HISTORY / Modern / General
WIDTH: 152 mm
SPINE:
Book Themes:
Legal history, History and Archaeology, General and world history, European history, African history, Social and cultural history, Colonialism and imperialism
Femi Owolade is a legal historian and Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His research explores law, colonialism, legal pluralism, and Islamic legal history in Africa, with a particular focus on Northern Nigeria. Legal Pluralism as a Colonial Project in Africa is his first monograph.