First section of court records of colonial Dahomey (1884-1965), Republic of Benin.
Custodial history: During most of colonial rule (end of 19th century-1960), these archives were kept by the ministry of justice. From 1953 to 1972, they were displaced more than 6 times along with other French colonial records in Benin. As a consequence, the collection's first informal classification was lost and the archives were damaged due to lack of governement interest. The collection of colonial Justice in Benin was described numerous times (mostly in the 1980s and 1990s) but without a proper classifcatory system.
Administrative context: The collection comes from the French Colonial Administration and is dedicated to the Justice Administration. This collection contains remarkable material for the study of legal History in colonial Benin but also for the relations between African people and colonisers. This collection illustrates the cohabitation of the French and Indigenous justice systems under colonial rule.
The collection has never been classified and is not arranged in any particular way. Documents range from 1887 (just before the French colonisation of the kingdoms of Porto-Novo and Abomey) to 1963 (3 years after the formal independence of the country).
The collection contains 58 series. Within these 58 series, 487 files were digitised. The project team chose not to digitise the following 6 files.
- EAP1055/1/34/5: Tribunal de province, jugement: état des jugements [1911]
- EAP1055/1/42/2: Tribunal du 1er degré, jugement: états de jugement [1926-1927]
- EAP1055/1/42/3: Tribunal du 2è degré, jugement: états de jugement [1927]
- EAP1055/1/43/5: Tribunal du 1er degré, jugement: états des jugements endus en matière repressive et civile [1931]
- EAP1055/1/49/4: Coloniee du Dahomey, Tribunal du 1er degré: état des jugements rendus en matière répressive [1929]
- EAP1055/1/52/5: Justice indigène; tribunal de Province: fonctionnement: état des jugements rendus en matière correctionnelle; correspondances; circulaires [1910-1952].
