The Impact of Colonial Heritage and Other Factors on Evolution of Legal Regulation of Civil Justice, Arbitrage and Mediation in the West African States Included in the ECOWAS

In this chapter the authors study the formation features of legal regulation of civil justice, arbitrage, mediation and other alternative private law dispute resolution in the West African states included in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo). The characteristic of legal and judicial systems of the listed countries is presented; the sources of legal regulation of private law dispute resolution procedure in state courts, arbitrages and dispute resolution centers are studied. It is justified that the formation and the development of legal systems of the ECOWAS member countries are affected and are still being affected by the following factors: (1) colonial legal heritage of former mother countries—England, Portugal, France; (2) the impact of customary African law; (3) belonging of more than half of the ECOWAS member countries to the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) that guided the development of arbitration law and arbitrage in the listed countries; (4) belonging of a number of ECOWAS member countries to the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) that established rules for advocacy in the listed countries.