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Recent French Legislation concerning African Marriage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

Arthur Phillips
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Extract

Social legislation of far-reaching importance for Africans in the French territories of West and Equatorial Africa is contained in a recently published decree (No. 51-1100 of 14 September 1951, relatif à certaines modalités du mariage entre personnes de statut personnel en A.O.F., en A.E.F., au Togo et au Cameroun).

This legislation involves the overriding of native customary law at certain vital points, particularly in relation to the institution of bride-price. In so far as bride-price is a factor contributing to the dependent status of the adult African woman and tending (under modern conditions) towards the commercialization of the marriage transaction, the decree is designed to neutralize its effects.

Résumé

LA LÉGISLATION FRANÇAISE CONCERNANT LE MARIAGE DANS LES TERRITOIRES AFRICAINS

L'auteur examine un décret récent relatif au mariage coutumier dans les territoires de l'Afrique française, dont les articles essentiels peuvent être résumés sommairement de la façon suivante: Le mariage coutumier sera, dorénavant, la seule forme de mariage prévue par la loi pour des personnes de statut civil de droit personnel; une femme ayant 21 ans révolus peut se marier à son gré et aucune dot, ou autre paiement coutumier, ne peut être légalement exigé; une femme âgée de moins de 21 ans peut se marier sans le consentement de ses parents si leur refus de consentement est attribuable à des exigences excessives; la reconnaissance, dans les limites de la loi coutumière, de l'obligation irrévocable des contrats spéciaux de monogamie est prévue.

L'auteur attire l'attention sur certaines difficultés qui sont susceptibles de se présenter lors de la mise en vigueur du décret; les families peuvent exercer leur influence afin d'assurer le mariage de femmes toutes jeunes, de crainte de perdre la dot de la mariée; en outre, il ne sera pas facile de fixer, par la loi, le montant de la dot d'une mariée, ou de justifier que des exigences excessives ont été faites par les parents de la jeune fille; si la dot et le consentement des parents sont supprimés, il sera probablement nécessaire d'imaginer un autre mode de célébrer les manages coutumiers. D'autre part, un désir se manifeste de la part des Africains amis du progrès pour des modifications du droit coutumier, telles que l'abrogation de la dot et la reconnaissance de la monogamie.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 1952 , pp. 66 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1952

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References

page 66 note 1 Information received since this article was sent to press suggests that it is not, in fact, the intention of the French authorities that the option of marriage under the Code Civil should be withdrawn from citoyens de statut civil de droit personnel. A. P.

page 66 note 2 For an explanation of the distinction between citoyens de statut civil de droit commun (or statut français) and citoyens de statut civil de droit personnel (or statut local), see L. Rolland and P. Lampué, Précis de Droit des Pays d'Outre-Mer, 4th edition (Paris, 1949), Part II, chap, i, pp. 242 seq.

Cf. also article 82 of the Constitution of 1946: ‘Les citoyens qui n'ont pas le statut civil français conservent leur statut personnel tant qu'ils n'y ont pas renoncé.’

As to the option de législation which has hitherto existed in respect of marriage under the Code Civil, see Rolland and Lampué, op. cit., p. 302. The exercise of such option in itself constituted a partial renunciation of native law; but it did not require any previous renunciation, total or partial, as a condition of eligibility for such marriage.

page 66 note 3 It should not be judged, however, in isolation from the provisions of article 5 (vide infra).

page 67 note 1 In the French Catneroons legal provision was made, as long ago as 1934, for cas de divorce fondés sur la renonciation des époux ou de l'un d'eux à la polygamie. See Annexe to Arrêté of 26 May 1934, containing codified rules for the marriage of non-Muslim natives (Journal Officiel du Cameroun, 1 June 1934, p. 372).

In French West Africa the recognition of such special contracts of monogamy was the subject of administrative instructions issued by the Governor General in 1957.

Cf. Bertho, J., ‘Le Problème du mariage chrétien en Afrique Occidental Française’, Africa, xvii (1947), p. 252CrossRefGoogle Scholar , at pp. 257-8. Cf. also Binet, J., ‘Note concernant le mariage autochtone et l'Administration dans les territoires de l'Union Française’, Le Monde Non Chrétien, xv (1950), p. 336, at pp. 340-1Google Scholar.

page 68 note 1 Actually, in a case falling within the scope of article 2 (i.e. where the woman was over 21 and no bride-price was payable), such consequences as were directly referable to the bride-price transaction would necessarily be excluded—an implication which illustrates the difficulties and complications of piecemeal reforms of this kind.

page 68 note 2 Thus in French West Africa, under the provisions of Arrêté No. 972 of 13 December 1940, a customary marriage must be registered, after celebration, with the Chef de District. On the other hand, provision does exist in one territory (viz. Cameroun) for the actual celebration of a quasi-customary marriage the registering officer (Arrêté No. 493 of 16 March 1935, portant organisation de l'état-civil indigène).

Reference may be made in this connexion to the history of registration in Southern Rhodesia. Under the Native Marriages Ordinance, 1917, some confusion existed as to the question whether registration was equivalent in its effects to solemnization. The doubts were removed by an amendment of 1929, which made it clear that registration was merely an additional requirement, not affecting the validity of the marriage. Eventually, however, by the Native Marriages Act, 1950, a non-customary procedure of solemnization was introduced as a universal requirement, with the provision that a marriage so solemnized ‘shall be a valid marriage contracted according to native law and custom’.

page 69 note 1 The possibilities of evasion and the implications of legislation on this subject are well illustrated by Dr. Philip Mayer's account of the numerous attempts at bride-price limitation which have been made in the South Nyanza district of Kenya. See Two Studies in Applied Anthropology in Kenya (London, 1951), pp. 19–32Google Scholar.

page 69 note 2 For an example of the attention which was being given to these problems at a high level as long ago as 1937, see the instructions issued by the Governor-General of French West Africa in Note annexe à la Circulaire No. 290 AP/2 du 7 Mai 1937 au sujet du mariage indigène (quoted by Bertho, loc. cit.). The following direction is of particular interest in the present connexion: ‘Dans le cas de refus de consentement de l'un des parents exercant valablement la puissance paternelle, le Président du tribunal du premier degré pourrait convoquer le ou les détenteurs de la puissance paternelle et les interroger sur les motifs de leur refus.’

page 69 note 3 Decree of 15 June 1939, containing provisions as to the minimum ages of the parties to a customary marriage, the necessity of individual consent, the independence and freedom of choice of a widow vis-à-vis her deceased husband's successor, &c.

page 69 note 3 Cf. Bulletin d'Information et de Documentation, No. 52, 15-28 March 1950 (Haut Commissariat de la République en A.E.F.), ‘Vers la suppression de la dot dans le mariage africain: une initiative gabonaise reprise au Cameroun’. Cf. also Sœur Marie-André du Sacré-Cœur, ‘La loi d'airain du mariage dotal au Cameroun français’, Études, Oct. 1950, pp. 17-19. Cf. also Binet, op. cit., pp. 337-8, 340-1.