Yorùbá Legal System: Law and Administration of Justice in the Pre-Colonial Era

DescriptionThis book attempts to set out Yorùbá law and administration of justice in the pre-colonial era. With illuminating details, instances and examples, the author demonstrates how òwe, àşà, àşe, òfin, maxims and precedents were used in Yorubaland to settle disputes between two people or groups. The book further establishes that Yorùbá life was permeated with religion and religious belief without which the Yorùbá could not have built and maintained their stable pattern of law and order. This quality ensured speedy and inexpensive administration of justice and the promptness with which the laws were enforced to produce law abiding and orderly people.The book educates the reader that the administration of justice in Yorubaland is open, fair and on the whole, impartial. It is straightforward and it puts premium on clarity,without ambiguity or technicality. The book is aimed at the Yorùbá and African youth. It is to inform or remind them of their heritage and culture, wisdom and philosophy of their ancestors.Lawyers, folklorists, sociologists and anthropologists will find it extremely useful.Folárin Shyllon was Dean Faculty of Law University of Ibadan, and also at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. He is the author of Intellectual Property Law in Nigeria (C.H. Beck, Munich, Germany, 2003), International Encylopaedia of Laws for Intellectual Property Law: Nigeria, (Kluwer Law Online, 2016) and Cultural Heritage Law and Management in Africa (Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization, Lagos, 2013). He is on the editorial board of International Journal of Cultural Property and Art Antiquity and Law. He has held fellowships at, among others, Harvard University, International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), Rome; and Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property Law, Munich, Germany. He read Law at King’s College London.