Foreword
Legislation has an important place as a province in the science of government. In climes where democracy flourishes, in regimes where tyranny dominates, the law - the written law - has always been the means by which men have sought to govern.
Consider for a moment the Ten Commandments and their value on modern thought. Estimate the influence of the Roman Twelve Tables on the laws of many countries. The Code of Manu was “written in verse and is divided into twelve chapters. In most parts, the Rules are so clearly and concisely stated that nothing can be gained by attempting to summarise or condense".1 The Codes of Hammurabi, 1752 B.C, are “the completest and most perfect monument of Babylonian law”.2 Ashoka's edicts, carved in rock and metal, “spread out all over India are still with us, and [convey] his messages not only to his people but to posterity”.3
So we, today, cannot discountenance the value of well-written laws for the governance of our peoples of Africa. The essence of the law is that it is clear and concise, readable and easily understood by the well trained and disciplined in the law and by the “ordinary man in the street”.
Herein lies the value of these basic principles which, it is hoped, will guide those who seek to find solutions, through the instrumentality of legislation, in our day and age, for the cultural, economic, educational, political and social problems which beset many an African country.
In the global village which Africa now becomes, it is essential, it is appropriate, that there is a harmonization of its laws despite the historical antecedents of our various countries.
And for the benefit of those who draft the laws for our various countries, and for the parliamentarians who pass the Bills which become the law by which we are governed and who approve the regulations which guide our conduct, these basic principles are presented - not as a command, not as a dogma to any country but as a guide to guard against the pitfalls, and to inform us all in our work of legislative drafting for the benefit of Mother Africa.
V.C.R.A.C. CRABBE
