TOWADS A COLLABORATIVE PLURAL LEGALISM IN CAMEROON: MODERN STATE JURISPRUDENCE AND CUSTOMARY LAWS FOR A SOCIAL CONTROL SYSTEM THAT TAKES SOCIOCULTURAL REALITIES INTO ACCOUNT

Abstract

For the improvement of legal system and social control mechanisms that reflect social realities, this paper is a discussion about the type of legal pluralism to be put in place through a collaboration of the coexisting modern jurisprudence with customary laws in Cameroon. In other words, the author seeks to examine how Modern State Legal system could interact with Customary laws and Indigenous mechanisms of Social control for Peace and harmony in Cameroon. The research design is explorative, using qualitative method. A questionnaire, Interviews and Life stories were used for Primary data collection; 20 individuals between 35- and 70-Years Old were interviewed, also two Focus Groups Discussion were organized, from each of the four Main Cultural areas of Cameroon. Secondary data come from Documentary Research. Legal Pluralism and Cultural Hybridization Theories have been exploited to understand social facts. According to the results, Law is an element of culture which is dynamic; also as cultural element, Law and mechanisms of social control should be flexible and not static. When the situation in the society change, there should be an opportunity to adjust Laws and mechanisms of social control to the change that has occurred, to fit social realities. The coexistence of traditional laws and mechanisms of Social Control and Modern legal system, can lead to the emergence of a new form of Legal system but the importance lays in the efficiency in maintaining social Order. By using collaborative Legal pluralism, which is appropriate to socio cultural realities in Cameroon; because it is a context where both state and non-state justice exist, but non-state justice mechanisms operate under the umbrella of state authority. Weaknesses of one system can be overcome by the other one’s mechanism. The cultural hybridism can contribute to the trans formation and enrichment of culture. Cultural hybridization also brings challenges as the creation of power relations between cultures that could lead to the disappearance of certain cultures. Therefore, issue of cultural hybridization should be approach by taking into consideration both advantages and disadvantages.  Cameroon is a multiethnic country, if the disadvantages are not taken into account there is a risk of homogenization and cultural assimilation instead of cultural diversity. The result hast also presented the Ghana’s pluralistic legal system as an example of collaborative legal pluralism to be copied in Cameroon. The legal system in Ghana is pluralistic, in that national legal system is based on the mixture of indigenous experiences, religious practices and imported legal experiences from the colonization.  Customary laws and traditions are taken into account in fashioning the jurisprudence.