Deux conceptions de l’action judiciaire aux colonies. Magistrats et administrateurs en Afrique occidentale française (1887-1912)

Abstract

This analysis describes the opposition between magistrates and colonial administrators over the period of installation of justice in the Federation of French West Africa (AOF), between 1887 and 1912. It seeks to examine the period when magistrates were invited to participate in judicial colonial organization when certain legal questions were hotly debated, in particular native justice and indigénat. This article points out the origins and results of the numerous conflicts which erupted between these two major players in the domain of colonial law. Magistrates and administrators respectively distinguished themselves by their specific backgrounds but also by a different idea of their attributions. These instances of misunderstanding and conflict shed light on french colonial reluctance concerning law and legal action overseas.

Keywords

• administrateur
• Afrique
• droit colonial
• indigénat
• justice
• magistrature