About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

51 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 59 (2022-2023)
International Law, African Courts, Patriarchal Inheritance Systems and Women's Rights

handle is hein.journals/denilp51 and id is 68 raw text is: INTERNATIONAL LAW, AFRICAN COURTS, PATRIARCHAL INHERITANCE SYSTEMS AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS JOHN MUKUM MBAKUT ABSTRACT In virtually all countries in Africa, there exist various cultural, social, political, and legal factors that contribute to women's inability to have access to land, as well as negatively impact their inheritance rights. One of the most important reasons why so many women in Africa do not have access to land or official land titles is that they live in communities which have customary laws and traditional practices that deny them the right to inheritance. In several African countries, customary laws deny the girl child the right to inherit her deceased father's estate and the widow the right to inherit her deceased husband's landed properties. This is so even though a woman's right to own and inherit property is recognized in several international and regional legal instruments and the laws of many countries in Africa. However, customary laws and traditional practices continue to threaten the inheritance rights of many women and girls throughout the continent. Without direct action by legislatures to remedy the violation of women's and girls' human rights, progressive judges are using their power to interpret their countries' constitutions to declare discriminatory provisions of customary laws unconstitutional. The judgment of the Court of Appeal of Botswana in the case, Ramantele v. Mmusi, continues the progressive human rights jurisprudence that it developed in Attorney General v. Unity Dow. Ramantele v. Mmusi provides several lessons for African countries on how to protect women's and girls' human rights in general, and their inheritance rights in particular, from infringement by customary laws and traditional practices. t John Mukum Mbaku is an Attorney and Counselor at Law (licensed in the State of Utah) and Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics & John S. Hinckley Research Fellow at Weber State University (Ogden, Utah, USA). He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. He received his J.D. degree and Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, where he was the Managing Editor of the Utah Environmental Law Review, and his Ph.D. (in economics) from University of Georgia. This article reflects only the present considerations and views of the author, which should not be attributed to either Weber State University or the Brookings Institution. 59

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most