British Jurisdiction and Legal Protection of Non-Europeans in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, 1841–1888

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of jurisdiction and protection over certain categories of the local population by the British Consulate in the independent Sultanate of Zanzibar. The minorities in question represented various ethno-religious backgrounds and enjoyed different social and economic statuses. They included the British Indian community, whose members belonged to the economic elite of the state and many of whom were British servants: employees of the British Consulate, as well as missions and private companies. The category also included freed slaves and Christian converts. The article examines the motives and conditions that stood behind British legal policies in Zanzibar. It argues that even if the consulate did run its own policy within the limits sketched by the imperial administration, the dynamics of this policy was set by the interaction between the consuls and the groups over which the British claimed jurisdiction. Although the clash of different legal norms and systems occurred as a result of legal pluralism, the real conflicts concerned the limits of British jurisdiction. This paper is based on research in the national archives of Zanzibar, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.