Legal Pluralism: dilemmas of the Roman-Germanic System in force in Mozambique, in double opposition – to Customary Law and to the Anglo-Saxon System – in the legal dynamics of Southern Africa

Abstract

This article analyzes Legal Pluralism in Mozambican society, considering the rigidity of the Roman-Germanic system in force in Mozambique, which, over time, has illustrated a conflict between formal justice and informal justice, a conflict that is aggravated by the differentiated duplication of procedures in cross-border areas, in the face of the Anglo-Saxon system, followed by all countries with which Mozambique shares a border. To understand the manifestations of the uses and customs of the populations, leading to the formulation of the Indigenous Law, the colonial authorities created a mission to carry out the survey and ethnographic study of the native populations of Mozambique, which culminated in the elaboration and presentation of the Penal Code and Statute of the Private Law of Indigenous People – Codes of the Indigenous – whose approval was strongly opposed by the Catholic Church, which considered the codes a barrier to the civilizing mission of Portugal. Once the Independence of Mozambique had been proclaimed, the new authorities opted for the maintenance of the colonial system and no radical measures were taken to adopt the Anglo-Saxon system – more balanced – aiming to harmonize Customary Law and strengthen the national legal pluralism, establishing an adequate connection between formal justice and informal justice, as well as standardizing the Law with the Southern African States, both in the context of SADC and in Mozambique's adherence to the Commonwealth. With necessary reservations, we consider the adoption of Mozambique to the Anglo-Saxon system to be of capital urgency, due to the multiple gains for its administration of justice and for the uniformity of Law in the region.