ABSTRACT
The attitude of governments towards polygamy, as expressed in legislation and statements of policy, has varied between outright condemnation and mere neutrality. The normal position is therefore that, among Africans who are living under their tribal law, polygamy is permitted, and the rights and obligations arising therefrom are legally recognized unless and until the institution is forbidden by express enactment. In some territories attempts have been made to discourage polygamy by indirect methods, e.g. by imposing disabilities on, or withholding privileges from, those who practise it. Among the grounds on which the propriety of according legal recognition to African customary marriage has been called in question, the most important, apart from its polygamous character, is the fact that it involves—usually as a basic essential—the transaction of ‘bride-price’. The evidence seems to show, therefore, that at the present day there is, on the part of most governments, no disposition to take the initiative in discouraging the continuance of the bride-price system.
