Following the Money: Understanding Forum Shopping and the ‘Justice Marketplace’ in Sierra Leone

Abstract

Monetary expenses are said to prohibit poor rural litigants from accessing official justice institutions, which are often concentrated in urban centres, thus pushing these litigants towards customary forums. At the same time, the alternative customary courts have been shown to cost more than formal justice institutions such as official magistrates courts. This article examines the economics informing litigants’ choices of judicial forums to contribute to a new analysis beyond state-centred legal pluralism. It argues that how money features in cases at barrays – the unofficial, unrecognised, customary courts in the capital city of Sierra Leone – not only explains why ordinary people engage with (extra)legal processes, but also demonstrates how justice is understood and (re)produced in practice.

(De)coloniality of “Tethered Mobilities” in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Tanzania

“…As the infl uence of associations and headmen grew, the colonial administration was forced to recognize them. It introduced a regulatory framework that utilized the de facto authority of the headmen (renamed Tribal Authority) to carry out the primary goal of the colonial administration-the control of migrant movement from the Protectorate to the Colony (Koroma 2023). Th e new legal framework required natives to register upon arrival to tribal rulers appointed by the colonial government, while the tribal rulers were conferred with powers to arrest and facilitate "deportation" to the Protectorate (Harrell-Bond et al 1978).…”

“…Although most of the inhabitants at this time were so-called natives, there was no change in the policy of prohibiting customary courts in the Western Area. "Tribal Rulers, " renamed "Tribal Headmen, " continued to have no adjudicating authority, while their role in supporting the government on tax collection and information dissemination was maintained (Koroma 2023). Th ere were prosecutions against unrecognized chiefs for operating illegal courts in the Western Area (Harrell-Bond 1975).…”

“…Th e combination of hostile legislation and lack of adjudicatory forums to practice customary law, failed to deter urban migration of the so-called natives from the Provinces to the Western Area in search of improved security, employment, sanitation, health, and housing. In defi ance, the number of unrecognized chiefs and their barrays also continued to increase, so that aft er the end of the war, there were more than six hundred barrays in the Western Area as compared to only twelve offi cial magistrates' courts (Koroma 2023).…”