The Administration of Justice
Justice was administered separately for French citizens and African subjects. For French citizens primary civil jurisdiction was exercised by a court of the first instance in Conakry and criminal jurisdiction by the Court of Assizes, also located in Conakry. Their decisions could be appealed to the West African Court of Appeal in Dakar and, further, to the Court of Cassation in Paris. For African subjects the administration of justice, at first in the hands of the chiefs, was gradually brought under French supervision. In 1912 the judicial powers of village chiefs were completely abolished, and customary courts (tribunaux indigènes) were created in district and subdivision headquarters. District courts sat under Europeans, but African judges could preside in the subdivisions.
In 1925 almost all judicial functions were brought under French supervision. As finally reorganized in 1931, the system of justice for African subjects consisted of customary courts of the first degree composed of two African assessors (lay judges) usually under the presidency of the district administrative officer. The vote of the assessors was, however, deliberative in that at least one assessor had to vote with the president for a decision to be made. These courts had primary jurisdiction in civil actions involving limited sums and in criminal cases in which penalties did not exceed a fine of 2,000 francs or ten years' imprisonment or both. Customary courts of the second degree ordinarily sat in district headquarters and had original and appellate civil jurisdiction but no criminal jurisdiction. They were composed of a French district official, who presided, and two native assessors with a deliberative vote.
Unlimited original criminal jurisdiction in serious offenses, with the right to impose the capital penalty, was exercised by a criminal court in each district. Presided over by a district administrator, the criminal court usually had four assessors—two Africans and two Europeans—half of whom had to agree for a judgment to be rendered. The colonial Court of Appeal in Conakry was composed of two senior French officials and two African notables. It had appellate jurisdiction in civil and criminal customary law cases coming from the courts of the first and second degree. The Supreme Customary Court of Appeal (Chambre d'Annulation) in Dakar had final appellate jurisdiction in all customary and civil and criminal cases.
The basic drawbacks in the system of justice for African subjects were the absence of a unified penal code, the ignorance of many of the French officials of African concepts and customs, and the cumbersome appellate procedure, which made appeal practically impossible in criminal cases (where appeals had to be initiated by the procurators) and extremely difficult in civil ones. There was a shortage of courts and of judicial officials. Many offenses were not brought to court, whereas others might be punished too severely or too lightly by African standards. In civil cases local customary law was frequently misunderstood and misapplied. No attorneys were allowed to practice in the customary courts.
A particular source of dissatisfaction was the indigénat, a system of summary disciplinary measures under which French administrators had discretionary power to punish their African subjects for minor infractions. Penalties could not exceed a fine of fifteen francs or five days' imprisonment (before 1925 the limits had been 100 francs and two weeks). Besides being arbitrary, the system could be — and often was — abused as a means of discouraging "insolence" or as a device for securing free labor.
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