BOOKS
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1952.tb00956.x |
| Published date | 01 October 1952 |
| Date | 01 October 1952 |
138
JOURNAL
OF
AFRICAN
ADMINISTRATION
customary arbitration, arrest, bail, remand in custody, criminating questions,
civil proceedings arising out of an act alleged to have caused death, definition of
attachable property, evidence of non-African witnesses, etc.
Two
other specific provisions may be mentioned in conclusion. Section 48
gives authority for the transfer to an African court from any other court of
any civil case which
appears"
more properly cognizable by an African court."
Section 12(2)gives to the African courts an exclusive jurisdiction in certain classes
of civil proceedings-viz. those which concern (a) native customary marriage or
inheritance, and (b) immovable property situate within
the"
native lands."
This
represents an extension of a principle first adopted in 1942 and hitherto limited
to land cases. At the same time, the rigidity of the provision excluding the
jurisdiction of other courts is modified in the new Ordinance by the insertion of
the words:
"unless
adistrict officer otherwise directs."
REFERENCES
A. Phillips. Report on Native Tribunals. Nairobi, 1945.
African Studies Branch, Colonial Office. "Developments in the administration of
Customary Law in Kenya," Journal of African Administration, Vol. i,
No.2
(April, 1949), pp. 86-8.
R. E. Robinson.
"The
Administration of African Customary Law." Journal
of African Administration, Vol. i,
No.4
(Oct., 1949), pp. 158-176.
Lord Hailey. Native Administration in the British African Territories (London:
H.M.S.O., 1950),
Part
I (East Africa): pp. 100-104 et Passim.
Kenya Colony. Legislative Council
Debates:
Official Reports (1951), Vol. xli,
pp. 177-213; Vol xliv, pp. 33-49.
BOOKS
NICHOLAS
MANSERGH:
Survey
of British Commonwealth Affairs, Problems of
External Policy, 1931-9. Oxford University Press: 1952; 42s.; pp. 481.
The
quickened pace of the British African dependencies' advance toward
self-government has brought us face to face with the question of their future
relations with the Commonwealth.
It
is not enough to express the pious hope
that
they will become members. Africans will want to know precisely what it
is they are to become members of; and what membership involves.
It is enormously difficult to answer these questions.
The
Commonwealth is
not a simple idea like Empire.
It
is so indefinite as to be almost nebulous even
to the public of the United Kingdom.
The
Commonwealth, in fact, cannot
be defined in terms of what it is,
but
only in terms of how it has acted. In
the end, only knowledge and understanding of the many member nations of
their different difficulties, outlooks and aspirations as well as their points of agree-
ment, can show the reality of the Commonwealth and convince Africans
that
it is worth while.
No series of books have contributed more to this sense of reality than the
Surveys of British Commenwealth Affairs issued by Chatham House. Professor
Hancock's volumes on problems of Nationality and Economic policy within the
Commonwealth have become classics of historical analysis. More than that, they
made it possible for member nations to understand each other and value their
relationships. .
Professor Mansergh's new volume in this series is a worthy companion to
Hancock's earlier volumes.
It
analyses the external policies of the Dominions
from 1931-9, the period when they were beginning to act as independent and
equal sovereign states in world affairs.
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