The Development of Statutory Marriage Law in Twentieth Century British Colonial Africa

Professor Zabel has traced the genesis of the Gold Coast/Lagos Marriage Ordinance of 1884. This article will show the manner in which this Ordinance was to proliferate (subject to modifications in content and application) to all British territories between the Sahara and the Zambesi, with the one exception of the Gambia. The story is a complex one, to which full justice cannot be done in the scope of a single article, and it is also one which throws interesting light on the evolution of colonial legislative policy. It will, for example, be noted that the legislation was not imposed upon the territories as part of any formulated policy for the introduction of English-based marriage law to replace the indigenous customary law, nor was it brought in at the request of the missionaries in their desire to eradicate polygamy; indeed in some territories missionaries were highly critical of its introduction, fearing that it would deter Africans from Christian marriage. In fact, the initial impetus for its introduction came from the administrators in West and East Africa who merely wanted legislation which would get over shortcomings in the received English law, which in particular did not appear to cover marriages between non-Africans who were not British subjects.