Chambre civile de droit traditionnel (Etat des Personnes)

19:55 Nov 7, 2007 

I agree with rufinus. It is mix of both culture: the Benin and the French law.

The law applicable in present-day Benin is characterised by legal dualism; the conjunction of written law (modern law), and of customary law (traditional law).3
Written law in Benin comprises, in part, French law introduced though colonisation and officially transposed into Benin law through colonial texts and the first constitutions of independent Benin; and, in other part, texts adopted after colonisation by the state, which modified, repealed or added to the original colonial law.
Traditional law is composed of the sum of traditions of the peoples. After having in vain tried to assert a policy which rejected the value of the legal system existing before their arrival, the French colonisers decided to recognise some legal value in local customs, but with limits, both in terms of the subject matter and persons subject to these customs. Those areas of law where some value was attributed to local custom, were essentially family law in a broad sense (marriage, divorce, succession, inheritance, marriage settlements…), and in the law of property, notably real property.

http://www.afrimap.org/english/images/paper/Badet_Traditiona...

Can we say then "Customary Law" instead of "Traditional Law" in this document?