Legal Pluralism or The Unification of Laws in Cameroon

Abstract

This article examines the present state of the law in Cameroon (pluralism) and argues that unification is a better option. It considers other alternatives such as constitutional overrides and harmonisation/integration before settling for unification. Legal pluralism creates a situation of overlapping laws some of which are discriminatory and thus cannot adequately protect the individual’s human rights particularly the right to non-discrimination. Also, the complexities created by the internal conflicts of laws as a result of legal pluralism make it more difficult to achieve justice. Unification on the other hand will greatly reduce non-discriminatory rules and the problems created by the conflict of laws. This article focuses mainly on personal law. While parliament has enacted laws that are applicable in the entire country in some fields such as labour law, marriage, criminal law and procedure, in others such as divorce parliament has never legislated. Thus, where parliament has not yet legislated, the applicable laws are still those received from her colonial masters as well as customary law.