The Rule of Law and Governance in Indigenous Yoruba Society

A Study in African Philosophy of Law

John Ayotunde Isola Bewaji

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2016
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9798881882419
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

In The Rule of Law and Governance in Indigenous Yoruba Society, John Ayotunde Isola Bewaji has two main goals. The first is to provide an exploration of aspects of indigenous Yoruba philosophy of law. The second is to relate this philosophy of law to the Yoruba indigenous traditions of governance, with a view to appreciating the relevance of the Yoruba traditions of law and governance to contemporary African experiments with imported Western democracy in the 21st century. This book is devoted to what can be described as a juridical forensic investigation of Nigeria's predicament of developmental deficit, leading to gross and unconscionable impoverishment of large segments of the population, in the midst of so much natural resources and abundant human capital, using Yoruba indigenous legal traditions as reflective template. Bewaji urges that Africa has to take seriously the necessity of obedience, observance, enforcement and operation of law as no respecter of persons, groups, affiliations and pedigrees as was in the case in the societies founded by our ancestors, rather than the present scenario whereby the highest bidder procures semblances of justice from a crooked system of common law which was never designed to be fair, equitable and just to the disadvantaged in society.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One: The Social Contract, Democracy, Law and Order in Africa
• Chapter Two: The Concept of Law in an Indigenous African (Yoruba) Society
• Chapter Three: The Rule of Law, Leadership and Development
• Chapter Four: Aspects of Legal Education and Sociopolitical Order in Indigenous Yoruba Society
• Chapter Five: Parallel Epistemologies, Parallel Justice Systems
• Chapter Six: Human Rights and Law in Indigenous and Contemporary Africa
• Chapter Seven: Traditional Religion, Constituted Authority, Law and Order
• Chapter Eight: Social Ethics, Law and Development
• Chapter Nine: Law, Order, Èşù and Liminality in the Yoruba Legal System
• Chapter Ten: Culture, Property Rights and Risk Management in African Development
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index