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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Palaver on the Gold Coast: Elmina-Dutch cooperation during the eighteenth century
Author:Feinberg, H.M.
Year:1979
Periodical:African Perspectives
Issue:2
Pages:11-20
Language:English
Geographic terms:Ghana
Netherlands
Subjects:colonization
conflict of laws
Abstract:Only rarely are outsiders invited to join in the judicial process of dispute settlement. One example, however, of where outsiders and the local leadership did cooperate in dispute settlement can be found on the Gold Coast of West Africa, where the leadership of Elmina town and main officials of the Netherlands West India Company cooperated in attempting to settle conflicts and in the judgement of certain civil court, cases. The present article describes this cooperation and discusses examples of civil cases settled during the eighteenth century. An outstanding characteristic of the cases in question is that the Elmina leadership and the Dutch Director General usually acted to uphold the Akan system in support of the customary law. The preservation of peace and order was an important motive for local authorities on the coast to present these cases to the Dutch, and it was undoubtedly a similar aim which motivated the Dutch to participate. Notes.
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