Résumés
In the early twentieth century, in countries of former French West Africa, new adjudicatory bodies, the so-called “native courts,” were created and managed by the French colonial administration to handle disputes between native people. The monitoring of court activity generated high-frequency litigation data that provide a unique opportunity to document interpersonal conflict in a context of colonial rule undergoing rapid transformation. This paper has three objectives: (i) to describe the institutional framework that gave rise to the case registers, “Les États Récapitulatifs,” upon which this research is based; (ii) to detail our method for compiling time series of cases adjudicated by the native courts of Senegal; (iii) to describe certain time trends in the dynamics of cases adjudicated by these courts. We conclude by discussing how this database could be used to better understand the economic and political roots of interpersonal conflict.
Dans l’Afrique occidentale française du début du xxe siècle, l’administration coloniale instaure des « tribunaux indigènes » afin de réguler les tensions et conflits entre les personnes de statut indigène. Le suivi de l’activité de ces tribunaux a produit plusieurs jeux de données qui offrent une opportunité unique de documenter les conflits interpersonnels dans des économies sous domination coloniale et en transformation rapide. L’article entend décrire le cadre institutionnel qui a permis la production des données étudiées (les « États récapitulatifs des jugements ») ; il s’agit ensuite de détailler notre méthode de compilation des séries temporelles des litiges arbitrés par ces tribunaux indigènes et enfin de dégager quelques tendances de la dynamique des litiges ainsi arbitrés. Nous concluons en discutant de la manière dont cette base de données pourrait être utilisée pour mieux comprendre les déterminants économiques et politiques des conflits arbitrés dans les tribunaux indigènes.
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Plan
1. Institutional Context
Organization of native courts in FWA: Context
Organization of native courts in FWA: General principles
2. Compiling the time series of cases from Les États Récapitulatifs
The Raw Material: Les États Récapitulatifs
Time series of cases: Method used to compile the time series of cases
Step 1 of our method: Documenting the native courts’ activity each quarter between 1906–1922
Step 2 of our method: Reconstructing the genealogy of the courts
The final database
3. Time series of cases: Descriptive analysis
Exploring inter-annual variations
Distribution of cases by type
Marriage-related disputes by sub-type
Requests for divorce
Complaints about a wife’s absence
Litigious breaches of promise to marry or marriage fraud
Other marriage-related disputes
Sub-categories of marriage-related disputes: exploring trends
Conclusion: Exploring the economic and political roots of interpersonal conflict
Economic shocks and marriage dissolutions
Colonial policies and norms of family organization
Aperçu du début du texte
French colonization had a major impact on the economic structures of colonized countries and on their legal and judicial institutions. One important change was the creation of native courts by the colonial administration in the early 20th century.
The native court system in former French West Africa (hereafter FWA) had four notable features: adjudication decisions were made in accordance with local customs (if compatible with the “civilizing” mission of the colonial power); adjudication was free of charge; judges and assessors received monetary compensation for their work from the colonial administration; and finally, decisions were enforced by the administration and the police. While the two first features were shared by both native courts and traditional adjudication courts, the last two were specific to the former.
For oversight reasons, native courts were required to keep track of all cases brought before them and to record their adjudication decisions in case registers called “Le...
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Pour citer cet article
Référence papier
Karine Marazyan, « Documenting Interpersonal Conflict in Senegal during the First Quarter the Twentieth Century », Histoire & mesure, XXXVII-2 | 2022, 213-242.
Référence électronique
Karine Marazyan, « Documenting Interpersonal Conflict in Senegal during the First Quarter the Twentieth Century », Histoire & mesure [En ligne], XXXVII-2 | 2022, mis en ligne le 01 janvier 2026, consulté le 02 juin 2023. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/histoiremesure/16761 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/histoiremesure.16761
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