African Customary Law: Developing An African Jurisprudence

Author: Peter Onyango Onyoyo

Dr. Peter Onyango Onyoyo is already a lecturer of law and faculty member of the department of commercial law of the University of Nairobi. He is also an associate member of the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation and a researcher of the same university. He teaches psychology of the court at the department of psychology and media law and ethics at the school of journalism and an academic supervisor. He has already published several peer reviewed articles for international journals and an author of many law books. His master piece includes the book on forensic psychology, law, science and technology and a book on administrative law in Kenya. He is engaged in teaching, Social Foundations of Law, Jurisprudence, IHL, PIL, Law of the Sea, and Environmental and Climate Law among others.

In this 1st Edition Dr. Onyango is discussing the significance of the African jurisprudence in the age of constitutionalism, human rights and post modernism. The book is handy for those who are interested in the jurisprudence, social foundations of law, sociology of law, human rights, and legal systems. Some law schools in Kenya have scrapped African customary law as a unit for law students but the topic is shifted to other units such as family law, law of succession, and social foundations of law.

This edition is handy for those who are interested in law. It includes practitioners, researchers, jurists, magistrates, law students, and civil servants engaged in administrative justice. By extension, this book is handy for academic researchers and policy makers. It adds so many ingredients into the knowledge of legal problems such as community land rights, customary land rights, marriage and burial rights, child custody, and understanding of the unwritten aspect of law.

This edition is aware of the new dispensation in Kenya and how much the provisions in the new constitution add to the knowledge of law. It upholds the African ideals in the constitution such as principles of justice, values, and law. It is presented in a way that favours the interest of readership from variant background. It avoids unnecessary technicality and exaggerated legal terms that are difficult for lay persons to understand. The book is simple and well thought out.