Legal Pluralism and Customary Law: Marriage Concepts

Legal Pluralism and Customary Law: Marriage Concepts What is legal pluralism?.Virtually every society is legally plural whether or not is has a colonial past including Cameroon. Legal pluralism has been existing in Cameroon for long with it numerous ethnic groups and diverse cultures. It is estimated that Cameroon has approximately 250 ethnic group and cultures with the Bangwa been one of the them, during colonization era, legal pluralism was intensified with the white mans culture and law also having a role to play whether or not is has a colonial past. Legal pluralism is a central theme in the reconceptualization of the law/society (S.A Merry, legal pluralism (review article),). It is also generally defined as a situation in which two or more legal systems coexist in the same social field. (Pospil,1981 Modern and Traditional Administration of Justice in New Guinea,; Griffiths 1986a What is Legal Pluralism?,. Moore S.F (1986a), Social Facts and Fabrications: Customary law on Kilimanjaro, 1880-1980). To Hookers, he define is from the social science version, he provide a masterful and comprehensive overview of legal pluralism in this sense, in surveying plural legal systems in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East (1975). He define legal pluralism as circumstances in the contemporary world which have resulted from the transfer of whole legal systems cultural boundaries (Hookers, M.B.(1975) legal pluralism: An Introduction to Colonial and Neo-colonial laws. Griffiths distinguishes between the social science view of legal pluralism as an empirical state of affairs in society (the coexistence within a social group of legal order that do not belong to a single system) and what he calls as juristic view of legal pluralism as a particular problem, of dual legal systems created when European countries established colonies that superimposed their legal systems. To Moore (1986b), he tries to describe the new legal pluralism in which he says, the new legal pluralism moves away from questions ab out the effect of law on society or even the effect of society on law towards conceptualizing a more complex and interactive relationship between official and unofficial form of ordering. This brings us to point Masaji Chiba, Three dichotomies of law. An analytical scheme of legal culture, Tokai law Review,1987, he define what is official and unofficial law? Official law was defined as the legal system sanctioned by the legitimate authority of the country, typical of which was state law directly sanctioned by the legitimate government of a state. And he also defined unofficial law as all type of law other than state law are classified as unofficial law insofar as they are not officially authorized by state law. On the other hand, customary law can be defined as a cultural construct with political implications, a set of ideas embedded in relationships that are historically shifting ( Moore, Social Facts and Fabrications: Customary Law on Kilimanjaro, 1880-1980). In Cameroon customary law is a source of law in the country it is legally recognized even though there are some customary law which are not in accordance to the repugnancy clause. The customary court ordinance cap 142 of 1948 applicable to Anglophone Cameroon defines customary law as the native law and custom prevailing in the area of the jurisdiction of the court so far as it is not repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience, nor incompatible either direct or by natural implication with the written law for the time being in force. What actually is marriage? In Christendom, marriage is typically regarded as an institute and ordained by God for the lifelong relationship between one man as husband and one woman as wife. It can also be defined as a legalized social relationship between one man and one woman with the exclusion of all others (Monogamy) on the other hand marriage can be defined as union between one man with two or more wives (Polygamy). There is another form of marriage today mostly in the western world, a union between one man and another man or between one woman and another woman (Homosexual marriage). And this marriage today is of contemporary debate if actually it should be acceptable? Customary marriage generally in Cameroon is another way of say it is polygamous marriage because the man can get married to as many women as he intern to with or without the consent of the wife. Marriage historically in Cameroon were arranged with varying degrees of veto power by the potential bride and groom, but individual chioce stressing companionship is becoming more common. Polygamy is a goal with many groups but it is not easily financially attainable. Some women prefer small-scale polygamy for the company and mutual aid a co-wife might provide. My main point of concern to this Bangwa customary marriage is how it is not inconformity with the Cameroonian State law, Repugnancy Clause and also Human Right of the girl child. But before I actually explain the Bangwa marriage I will give brief explanation of the Cameroon legal system. Cameroonian Legal System The Cameroonian legal system is a relic of the colonial era, it is unique in the sense that, it consist of two distinct and often conflicting legal system, the English Common law in Anglophone Cameroon and the French Civil law in Francophone Cameroon. Cameroon is referred to as a bi-jural country ( Prof. P.Y Ntamack University Yaoundà ©-Cameroon). Cameroons legal system can be explain from; pre-colonial, colonial and the post independence era. There exist diverse unwritten indigenous laws and usages which apply to the numerous ethnic groups and cultures in Cameroon. Cameroon has been ruled by the following countries; Germany 1884, Britain and France 1916), and each of them had it own system of rule. The main sources of Cameroon have been shape due the two legal systems. The main sources are: The Constitution: Cameroon has passed through three constitution, 1960, 1972 and 19960. The legislation: This is main the parliament. Judicial Precedent: It is treated differently by the Civil law and Common law. In the Frencophone courts,

Methodology into preparing a business idea Essay

The aim of my project is to research a potential business venture to see if it would be feasible to open a sandwich shop situated at the bottom of the Station Road facing Wallsend Forum. In the beginning I intend for my sandwich shop to be a small, local business which I will eventually expand on if funds permit it. My business is being situated in Wallsend for many reasons. Firstly, I am from the area and know first hand that similar businesses in the area are extremely successful and I believe that by improving some of the more negative aspects of rival business I can make a success of the business. Secondly, the rent on a premises is a lot more reasonable in Wallsend, alternatively I could have chosen Newcastle City Centre, however after looking into the cost of renting an outlet I finally decided on Wallsend, as a property in Newcastle would cost a minimum of 5 times of what I could have in Wallsend, there would be a lot more business in Newcastle, but I could not afford to rent such an expensive property this early into the venture, however, in future it is something I may consider. I have chosen this area because it has a high population of 213,983, it is also linked to many main roads which has a huge amount of traffic each day which I feel will benefit my business. Wallsend also has a bus terminal and has 3 metro stations within walking distance, I believe this will greatly contribute to my business and generate a healthy custom. I will be able to research this by using methods such as questionnaires, surveys and conducting primary and secondary research into similar businesses in the area to compare them to get a good indication of costs and such. To see if my business venture will be successful I will need to conduct various types of primary and secondary research. This is so I can gather information about my type of business and estimate demand and such. All of this collated information will give me an indication of whether my business will be a success. I will be conducting both primary and secondary research as both of them pose benefits to my market research. Primary research will be beneficial because I can aim my questions specifically at my research objectives, therefore I will only obtain necessary information, there is no risk of having outdated information because all of the information will be current, I could also give my potential customers a preview of what type of products they can expect from my business by providing samples. However, there are also negative aspects of using primary research, for example, they can be very expensive and time consuming, organising samples and getting people to help survey will be costly and also time consuming. In addition, there is always a risk of interviewer and questionnaire bias, questions may be worded so it directs respondents to choose a specific answer, which will make the information collected invalid. Secondary research also has its advantages, it is often inexpensive and can be obtained for free, also if you have enough information from various similar businesses it can give a wide overview of the general market, and it is often based on large samples which is extremely beneficial if you cannot conduct a large enough survey yourself, it also often includes official sales figures. Similar to primary research, it also has its drawbacks, the data may be outdated which makes it irrelevant to the current day market, it is never specific to your business and could only contain a small amount of relevant information, if the information required does require a fee, then it can be very expensive however it will report on different kinds of market, including your own, again only providing a small amount of information relevant to your business. I could conduct my primary research in a variety of ways, I could use a postal survey, where I would deliver a survey through the post and expect the respondents to reply, this can be advantageous because it saves a lot of time and money, delivering a postal survey around the area of my business wouldn’t take as long as some other methods and I could do it myself rather than having to employ people to help. However, the amount of surveys I would receive back would be a small percentage of what I had handed out, which would render the process pointless, however if I stated that respondents would receive a free gift the response would be higher. I could conduct a face to face survey in which I would ask questions on the streets of Wallsend. The benefits of this would be that it would raise awareness of my business and create a curiosity amongst the respondents which is already a form of unintentional promotion, and also let my potential customers get to know information about the business before it opens, in addition, the data is quite simple to analyse and it wouldn’t take long to compile the data. On the other hand, this would be quite time consuming as a lot of people refuse to take part in street surveys, also I would need to employ others to help because I would not be capable of conducting a large enough survey to base any decisions on. Finally I could create a focus group, in which I ask groups of 6-8 consumers questions about their expectations of a sandwich shop and analyse their answers. This would be extremely informative and will give the option of interviewing 6-8 people all at the same time, which saves a lot of time. In contrast, it would be very difficult to organise a group of 6-8 people to discuss products and services and I would perhaps have to reward them for their participation, moreover, if my respondents are in a group they may not air their own opinion and just agree with the general consensus of the group which would make my data inaccurate. I have decided to conduct a face to face survey as I feel it would be the most beneficial to my business. Taking into account that I am a relatively small local business opening in an area which has similar businesses I think it would be extremely beneficial to create an awareness of the sandwich shop in advance of the opening. Moreover, the data can be analysed quickly and almost effortlessly. I have chosen this method over the other 2 I have previously mentioned because I feel it would cost the least, and in the first year of my business, costs are paramount. I need to find out potential customers expectations of a sandwich shop and what people expect to pay and what services they think are essential to the business being a success. My questionnaire will take place in Wallsend town centre, as that is where my business is based. When deciding who I want to take my questionnaire I had to look at sampling, I could conduct a random sample survey in which I question people of all ages, sizes, classes and so forth to ensure that I have covered every possible type of person that could be a potential customer, which will give me a representative conclusion based on the opinion of a wide range of different people rather than targeting a specific type. The disadvantage of this is that it can be very expensive and time consuming to pick people at complete random, for example from a telephone book. It can also be a very slow process, depending on the sample size. Instead of using this method I could use a quota sample, which in essence is interviewing anyone and everyone that comes along, similarly to random sampling in that age, size, classes etc, are irrelevant. This sampling method is extremely cheap and effective way of sampling because I can conduct this when and where I like, it is used by most businesses. The only drawback of this method is that your questionnaire may require a specific type of person to survey (men for sportswear for example) so if that were the case this method would be useless. I have decided to use quota sampling when conducting my survey because it is very cheap and flexible in terms of time consumption, which is a far more suitable solution than random sampling in where it would require a lot more work, manpower and time. In addition, my survey is applicable to everyone, as it is a service that everyone, regardless of characteristics, could use at some point.

News Summaries

A July 9 online article from dallasnews. com, entitled Top 10 personal finance mistakes, provides a prime example of one form of learning: lesson by failure. The article discusses ten common pitfalls when individuals are addressing their own financial tasks. By shining a spotlight on these mistakes, the article reinforces principles in Chapter 22—namely, the essential need for solid personal financial planning.Each ‘mistake’ receives a few paragraphs of attention, and the information holds more value because the author also pinpoints expert tips that can lessen the impact and occurrence of each problem.The first two discussed mistakes, for example, address the scarcity of people who develop a logical and flexible statement of goals. Too often, as the article elaborates, individuals make financial decisions based on emotion rather than factual information. In addition, those who do develop goals and plans are many times reluctant to ‘stray the course’ from initial goals. However, experts advise that adaptability and structure can strengthen financial prospects for any individual, regardless of economic standing.Budgeting, in particular, is an important skill to develop in matters of finance. Debt and savings comprise the next part of the discussion. According to the article, a surplus of people sink into credit card debt that may only be eradicated through years of payments. Prompt, maximum-level monthly payments can ease these burdens, say the experts. Debt accumulation is symptomatic of another financial planning problem mentioned in the article: savings, or the lack thereof.A depletion of saved income can negatively impact both short-term and long-term financial goals. One remedy the interviewed experts recommend involves the creation of an emergency savings fund (used in case of unexpected expenses). Such a fund would be bolstered by a set amount of money from each employee paycheck. Finally, the article concludes with warnin gs involving two other important aspects of personal finance, employee benefits and stock investment.The author argues for 401(K) plans, life insurance, and reasonable investing, respectively. Each of these subjects—if handled improperly—holds the potential for catastrophic financial consequences. 401(K)s can help ensure an individual has a secure retirement nest egg (alleviating at least one burden for the elderly); life insurance in turn ensures a family’s security, and minimal stock investing will help prevent an abolishment of personal savings.

Battle of Waxhaws in the American Revolution

The Battle of Waxhaws was fought May 29, 1780, during the American Revolution (1775-1783) and was one of several American defeats in the South that summer. Following the loss of Charleston, SC in May 1780, British commanders dispatched a mobile force led by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton to chase down an escaping American column commanded by Colonel Abraham Buford. Clashing near Waxhaws, SC, the Americans were quickly overrun. In the immediate aftermath of the fighting, a murky set of circumstances saw the British kill many surrendering American soldiers. This action led to the battle being referred to as the Waxhaws Massacre as well as incited Patriot militias in the South while also badly damaging Tarletons reputation. Background In late 1778, with the fighting in the northern colonies increasingly becoming a stalemate, the British began to expand their operations to the south. This saw troops under Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell land and capture Savannah, GA on December 29. Reinforced, the garrison withstood a combined Franco-American attack led by Major General Benjamin Lincoln and  Vice Admiral Comte dEstaing the following year. Seeking to expand this foothold, the British commander-in-chief in North America,  Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, mounted a large expedition in 1780 to capture Charleston, SC. General Sir Henry Clinton. Public Domain Fall of Charleston Though Charleston had defeated an earlier British attack in 1776, Clintons forces were able to capture the city and Lincolns garrison on May 12, 1780 after a seven-week siege. The defeat marked the largest surrender of American troops during the war and left the Continental Army without a sizable force in the South. Following the American capitulation, British forces under Clinton occupied the city. Escaping North Six days later, Clinton dispatched Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis with 2,500 men to subdue the South Carolina back country. Advancing from the city, his force crossed the Santee River and moved towards Camden. En route, he learned from local Loyalists that South Carolina Governor John Rutledge was attempting to escape to North Carolina with a force of 350 men. This contingent was led by Colonel Abraham Buford and consisted of the 7th Virginia Regiment, two companies of the 2nd Virginia, 40 light dragoons, and two 6-pdr guns. Though his command included several veteran officers, the majority of Bufords men were untested recruits. Buford had originally been ordered south to aid in the siege of Charleston, but when the city was invested by the British he received new directions from Lincoln to assume a position at Lenuds Ferry on the Santee River. Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis. Public Domain Reaching the ferry, Buford soon learned of the citys fall and commenced withdrawing from the area. Retreating back toward North Carolina, he had a large lead on Cornwallis. Understanding that his column was too slow to catch the fleeing Americans, Cornwallis detached a mobile force under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton on May 27 to run down Bufords men. Departing Camden late on May 28, Tarleton continued his pursuit of the fleeing Americans. Battle of Waxhaws Conflict: American Revolution (1775-1783)Dates: May 29, 1780Armies and CommandersAmericansColonel Abraham Buford420 menBritishLieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton270 menCasualtiesAmericans: 113 killed, 150 wounded, and 53 capturedBritish: 5 killed,12 wounded. The Chase Tarletons command consisted of 270 men drawn from the 17th Dragoons, Loyalist British Legion, and a 3-pdr gun. Riding hard, Tarletons men covered over 100 miles in 54 hours. Warned of Tarletons rapid approach, Buford sent Rutledge ahead towards Hillsborough, NC with a small escort. Reaching Rugeleys Mill mid-morning on May 29, Tarleton learned that the Americans had camped there the previous night and were around 20 miles ahead. Pressing forward, the British column caught up with Buford around 3:00 PM at a location six miles south of the border near Waxhaws. Fighting Begins Defeating the American rearguard, Tarleton sent a messenger to Buford. Inflating his numbers to scare the American commander, he demanded Bufords surrender. Buford delayed responding while his men reached a more favorable position before replying, Sir, I reject your proposals, and shall defend myself to the last extremity. To meet Tarletons attack, he deployed his infantry into a single line with a small reserve to the rear. Opposite, Tarleton moved to directly assault the American position without waiting for his entire command to arrive. Forming his men on a small rise opposite the American line, he divided his men into three groups with one assigned to strike the enemy right, another the center, and the third the left. Moving forward, they began their charge approximately 300 yards from the Americans. As the British approached, Buford ordered his men to hold their fire until they were 10-30 yards away. While an appropriate tactic against infantry, it proved disastrous against cavalry. The Americans were able to fire one volley before Tarletons men shattered their line. A Controversial Finish With the British dragoons hacking with their sabers, the Americans began to surrender while others fled the field. What happened next is a subject of controversy. One Patriot witness, Dr. Robert Brownfield, claimed that Buford waved a white flag to surrender. As he called for quarter, Tarletons horse was shot, throwing the British commander the ground. Believing their commander to have been attacked under a flag of truce, the Loyalists renewed their attack, slaughtering the remaining Americans, including wounded. Brownfield insinuates that this continuation of hostilities was encouraged by Tarleton (Brownfield Letter). Other Patriot sources claim that Tarleton ordered the renewed attack as he did not wish to be encumbered with prisoners. Regardless, the butchery continued with American troops, including wounded, being struck down. In his report after the battle, Tarleton stated that his men, believing him struck down, continued the fight with a vindictive asperity not easily restrained. After approximately fifteen minutes of fighting the battle concluded. Only around 100 Americans, including Buford, succeeded in escaping the field. Aftermath The defeat at Waxhaws cost Buford 113 killed, 150 wounded, and 53 captured. British losses were a light 5 killed and 12 wounded. The action at Waxhaws quickly earned Tarleton nicknames such as Bloody Ban and Ban the Butcher. In addition, the term Tarletons Quarter quickly came to mean that no mercy would be given. The defeat became a rallying cry in the region and led many to flock to the Patriot cause. Among those were numerous local militias, particularly those from over the Appalachian Mountains, which would play a key role at the Battle of Kings Mountain that October. Brigadier General Daniel Morgan. Public Domain Vilified by the Americans, Tarleton was decisively defeated by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781. Remaining with Cornwallis army, he was captured at the Battle of Yorktown. In negotiating the British surrender, special arrangements had to be made to protect Tarleton due to his unsavory reputation. After the surrender, the American officers invited all of their British counterparts to dine with them but specifically forbade Tarleton from attending.