Gender Relations in Cameroon: Multidisciplinary Perspectives

5. Female Inheritance between Customary Law and Modern Jurisprudence: the Case of Cameroon

93 5 Female Inheritance between Customary Law and Modern Jurisprudence: the Case of Cameroon Temngah Joseph Nyambo 12 Introduction A combination of received European laws and local customary laws regulate aspects of life in contemporary in contemporary African communities. The indigenous customary laws already existing at the time of reception of European laws have persisted outside the scope of state institutions. These include elaborated bodies of social norms and traditional prescriptions. The contact with the modern legal system has however resulted in acculturation on the part of the former with little adaptation on the part of the received laws13 . Law is thus considered as a culture from this point of view. Many African countries have legal systems embracing several types of law. Often non-adaptation has led to cracks due to social change. Such conflicting attitudes in a society often make it difficult to assess succinctly the position of women. 12This paper was originally prepared as part of a book project on Cameroon’s cultures initiated by the editor of this collective work, which project never fully materialized. The current publication benefits from substantial editing. We hope that, by publishing this paper, we will be giving posthumous honours to a scholar who died so young and early into his career. 13 Gordon R. Woodman, “Accommodation between Legal cultures: The Global encounters the Local in Ghanaian Land Law”, Recht in Afrika, Vol. 1, 2001:57-70. 94 Cameroon is one African country that has a mixed system of laws14 . Properly put in context, the source of Cameroon’s laws consists of received law (British, French) and local law (customary law and laws passed by the local legislative organ). Therefore, the rules governing inheritance are contained in various legislative or jurisprudential instruments or codes of the civil law (Romano– Germanic or the Continental system), case law in the Common Law tradition and customary law. Inheritance is not an easy process in Cameroon in particular and Africa in general. Although western and western inspired laws exists governing inheritance, it is often a subject shrouded in mystery for both men and women. The matter becomes more complicated for women who are considered as part and parcel of a man’s estate15 . In the case under consideration, Cameroon’s inheritance law is usually a juxtaposition of customary and written law. For instance it is a requirement that before the grants of probate, the applicant must have obtained a hereditary judgment from the competent customary court before forwarding it to the Probate Division of the High Court competent within whose jurisdiction the matter falls. The judgment itself is conditioned upon presenting minutes of family meetings during which the applicant was designated16 . 14The dual heritage consists of the English Common Law and the continental system (Romano-Germanic in character) and local or religious practices. Muslim law based on the holy Koran was assimilated as custom by the terms of the Southern Cameroons High Court Law of 1955. 15See J. Temngah, The Right of Widowhood in former West Cameroon. The case of Fungom Area, Master’s degree thesis, Faculty of Laws and Economics, University of Yaoundé, 1990, p.53. 16I.N. Asanga, “Rethinking Female Succession in Cameroon: The Decline of Customary Law?” Recht in Afrika, Issue 2, 2004:121-132); Temngah, J. supra, p.5558 ; F. Butegwa, “Women’s Legal Right to Access to Agricultural Resources in Africa: A Prelimary Inquiry”, Third World Legal Studies, Vol. 10, Issue 1, 1991, p. 4457 . 95 Inheritance in Cameroon is still largely governed by customary law which is highly discriminatory against women. This is the focus of our discussion. Cameroon has more than 250 ethno-linguistic groups (Breton and Dieu 1983; Lewis 2009), each applying and enforcing its own native laws and customs in matters of inheritance. If we agree that customary law consists of rules governing the conduct of members of a given ethnic group or people, then we can hold that there is a multiplicity of rules of inheritance varying from one ethnic group to another. In this case, we find a further complication in the task of inheritance in Cameroon. In the case of inter-tribal marriages, many customs come into play, and it would be interesting to know which custom applies in that case. However, according to the High Court Law of former Southern Cameroons, the High court is only directed to observe and enforce the observance of every native law and custom which is...