ABSTRACT
The subject matter of the Conflict of Laws may be defined as the rules which are adopted by the English Courts for determining whether they will recognise and enforce rights which are conferred by foreign law. In dealing with the branch of the law the English Courts in Africa have to decide the circumstances under which they will enforce the Native customary laws of the African inhabitants of the country. Native law most frequendy comes into issue when the Courts are dealing with civil causes and matters relating to marriage and to the tenure and inheritance of property. In addition Native law may be applied in a dispute between a Native and a non-Native if a strict adhesion to English law would cause injustice. The provisions of Native law and statute law are not inconsistent if the two laws can stand together and both operate without either interfering with the other.
