In this book, Sally Falk Moore examines a hundred years in the history
of an African people, the Chagga of Kilimanjaro, in order to understand
how their present system of 'customary' laws came to be the way it is,
and how the idea of custom was used in Tanzania's experiment with
African socialism. She discusses the changes that have occurred in the
formal legal system, alongside the vast economic and political
transformations that came with cash cropping and colonial rule. She also
presents a 'legal' chronicle of the members of one lineage to illustrate
its use of the formal legal system. This study of the difference between
law in the life of a people and law in the local courts will interest
teachers and students of legal anthropology and law and also provides an
important contribution to anthropological theory. In addition it has
practical relevance for the understanding of the operation of
'traditional' institutions and will appeal to readers interested in
African history and African studies.