“Negotiating the law: judges, families and court hearings in inheritance cases in Cotonou”

On 14 June 2004, Benin ratified a new Code on Persons and Family – regulating, amongst other things, inheritance matters. Over the last couple of years, the number of inheritance cases handled by state courts has drastically increased in the capital city. How do people understand and use the law? While modern courts, like other public services, have been analyzed as part of everyday governance and the local state in West Africa, I on the other hand will focus on the ways in which the judiciary interprets and implements law. Within that context, hearings are a key moment of legal proceedings. How do litigants argue their cases? How do judges manage to settle inheritance quarrels? Using case studies of inheritance disputes and their litigation under the 2004 ‘Code on Persons and Family’, I try to understand how state laws are understood, utilized, and/or questioned in Cotonou.