Book
Law and authority in a Nigerian tribe: a study in indirect rule
Barnes & Noble • New York • Published In 1970 • Pages:
By: Meek, C. K. (Charles Kingsley), Lugard, Frederick John Dealtry, Baron.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
As the result of the violent and widespread women's riot in 1929, which caught the British Colonial Administration in Nigeria by surprise, a commission of inquiry was established to look into the causes of the disturbances. After interviewing hundreds of witnesses, a report was produced containing some of the most interesting commentaries on colonial administration produced in recent times. This report indicated that the riots were triggered primarily by an unfounded fear that females were soon to be taxed (as male members of the community already were) coupled with a scarcity of money as the result of a heavy fall in the price of palm products. In addition, there was clear evidence that the Igbo people were generally discontent with the system of Native Administration established by the British. To rectify this situation, the government proceeded to undertake an intensive campaign of inquiry into the indigenous social and political organization of the peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria (including the Igbo area) with a view to establishing a Native Administration more in accordance with the institutions and wishes of the people -- the so-called 'indirect rule' which established pre-existing native institutions in a form of self-government on more progressive lines. Meek, as government anthropologist and a senior administrative officer, was asked to assist in this preliminary investigation. The material which he gathered for this report and later published, originally in 1937, dealing with Igbo systems of government and law, makes up the major portion of this source. The author notes that his material does not pretend to be a complete corpus of Igbo jurisprudence, but serves rather as a general guide to ascertaining the general principles by which Igbo communities govern themselves (p. xii). In addition to the major theme of Igbo jurisprudence and law, the source also contains interesting data on culture history and environment, religion, social and political structure (primarily in the Owerri, Awgu and Nsukka divisions), titles, kinship, age grades, marriage, childbirth and child rearing, and death and inheritance.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Government institutions
- Death
- Law
- Age stratification
- Cultural participation
- Offenses and sanctions
- Marriage
- Justice
- Reproduction
- History and culture change
- Infancy and childhood
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Igbo
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2003
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Government Official
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 1981
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1929-1932
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1929-1932
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- southeastern Nigeria
- NotesAdditional notes
- by C. K. Meek ; with a foreword by Lord Lugard
- Reprint of the 1937 ed.
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 73015955
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Igbo (African people)