The performance of litigation: Asante custom and the Juaben court

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	The performance of litigation: Asante custom and the Juaben court
Author:	Stoeltje, Beverly J.
Year:	2006
Periodical:	Research Review (ISSN 0855-4412)
Volume:	22
Issue:	1
Pages:	47-61
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Ghana West Africa
Subjects:	customary courts Ashanti polity legal procedure law Litigation Justice, Administration of Ashanti (African people)--History Ashanti (African people)--Social life and customs
Abstract:	The author locates contemporary Asante legal practices in historical context and provides an account of litigation in the customary law system, as it is constructed, negotiated and performed in the Asante setting. It is this ongoing process, focused on the performance of litigation and situated within a legal culture of long-standing and complex history, that shapes reality and identity for many Asante people. Moreover, an ethnographic and historical perspective reveals larger issues concerning the significance of power as it has been affected, adapted and is enacted through litigation, issues which relate in particular to access to justice and how that access is implemented. The court of the paramount chief of Juaben, a major town and a major stool in Asante, serves as an illustration of the argument. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [ASC Leiden abstract]