The Integration of Personal Laws: Tanzania’s Experience

Abstract

Tanzania’s endeavors to find an appropriate law of marriage and divorce began immediately after independence in 1961 when President Nyerere sanctioned the recording of the personal law of various communities throughout the country. In 1963 the codification team produced a comprehensive draft code which was applicable to the Bantu patri-lineal groups. It was published that year as Government Notice No. 279 of 1963.1 It may be recalled that during the early 1960s some other African states which had recently become-independent were actively involved in critically evaluating their legal systems which they had inherited from the previous colonial administration. At the Dar es Salaam Conference of 1963 for example, a number of speakers argued for the unification of customary laws noting that such a step would lead towards national unification.