Abstract:
The article discusses the attitudes of traditional African societies towards
the taking of human life, aiming to understand the incidence, nature and
causes of killing in traditional society. The article explores the responses of
these societies to homicide, seeking to unearth legal, religious or other
norms, if any, governing the taking of human life. The article interrogates
the issue of accountability, to discover whether traditional societies
recognised any obligation to ensure that a killer was made to account for
his or her act – thereby inevitably raising questions about the right to life.
The article concludes that in the customary law of these societies values
and norms in respect of killing existed and that notions of accountability
were indeed recognised, although (being drawn from strong
communitarian foundations and a widespread belief in the supernatural)
they differed significantly from modern human rights norms.
