Editor's Notes
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1961.tb01251.x |
| Published date | 01 January 1961 |
| Date | 01 January 1961 |
JOURNAL
OF
AFRICAN
ADMINISTRATION
Volume
XIII
.
Number
1 •
January
1961
~ditorJs
Notes
IN
THE
last issue of the
Journal
we referred to the eleventh
and
last Colonial
Office
Summer
Conference, which was held after
our
October
notes
had
gone
to press.
The
subject was
the
administrative aspect
of
community
development,
with which local
government
was inevitably linked,
and
the
unanimity
of views
which emerged
at
the
plenary
sessions after
much
group
discussion was
remark-
able.
It
was
remarkable
because the
approach
to the administrative problems
involved has varied considerably from time to time
and
from territory to
territory.
It
is now clear
that
community development, however defined, is
finding its place as a recognized
part
of local administration, keyed into the
structure
through
teams
and
complementary to local government. Local
government
itself is by no means static
and
we
hear
of
developments
and
re-
appraisals from several quarters. We will
report
on these as plans
mature.
Arising from
the
recent Conference on the
Future
of
Law
in Africa, the
Lord
Chancellor has set up a strong committee on
the
training
of
African
lawyers
under
the
chairmanship
of
Lord
Denning, who has recently visited
several African territories to assess the
problem
at
first
hand.
The
Restatement
of
African
Law
project, sponsored by
the
School
of
Oriental
and
African
Studies, which
obtained
substantial
support
at
the Conference, is now
under
way
and
a
member
of the team working on the project has
been
making
a
preliminary
survey in East Africa.
Following on
the
reorganization of the legal
and
judicial
systems of
the
Northern
Region of Nigeria, which was
reported
in
our
issue for
July
1959,1
Mr.
S. S. Richardson, Commissioner for Native Courts in
that
Region, describes
in this issue the impressive steps which have
been
taken
to provide the necessary
training
as
part
of
the
penal
reform.
He
concludes
that
"enough
has
been
achieved by
the
training
undertaken
in
the
past
year
to ensure
that
the
new
system will
make
a fair
start
on the
30th
September 1960". Certainly it deserves
to succeed.
Our
readers will note the
enactment
of
the Nyasaland African Wills
and
Succession
Ordinance,
to which
attention
is
drawn
under
'Legislation' in this
issue.
The
subject is one of
particular
importance
and
complexity
at
the present
time
with
the
gradual
move from
communal
to individual societies in Africa.
We congratulate Nyasaland on
their
bold initiative in legislating comprehen-
sively on this subject.
Their
experiment will be watched
with
interest
and
we
hope to
report
on
the
progress from time to time.
I).A.A.
Vol.
XI,
NO.3,
p. 159.
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