Some General Principles of Acquisition of Ownership of and Rights Over Land by Customary Prescription in the Sudan

Custom is known as urf in Arabic. In Islam the sources of law are the Holy Koran, the Sunna, the ijma’a, the qiyas and possibly urf Customary law existed before the advent of the Condominium Rule in the Sudan. But the origins of the customs and their nature have not yet been studied seriously. According to section 9 of the Civil Justice Ordinance, 1929, the civil courts of the Sudan may have resort to customary law to reach a decision if there is no express enactment covering a certain situation by applying the formula of equity, justice and good conscience of section 9. Moreover, the law to be administered in personal matters in any suit or other proceeding in a civil court shall be any custom applicable to the parties concerned which is not contrary to justice, equity and good conscience, and has not been altered or abolished and has not been declared void by the decision of a competent court.