Paper short abstract:

The paper aims at appraising the problems facing the reform of the Congolese judicial system at the local level, by comparing the functioning of ‘customary’ courts with the one of Justice of the peace courts in the area of Lubumbashi.

Paper long abstract:

In their strategy to make of the Congo a 'state of law', foreign donors have attached crucial importance to the reform of the judicial system. In accordance with their recommendations, the J. Kabila government, elected in 2006, adopted a new constitution, new legal codes and a plan to restructure the judiciary. One of the major ambitions of this plan was to improve the access to 'modern' justice, by replacing 'customary' courts with justice of the peace courts and fighting against corruption in local state courts.

Based on collective research carried out between February and December 2010, this paper aims at appraising the problems facing this type of reform at the local level, by comparing the functioning of 'customary' courts with the one of Justice of the peace courts in the area of Lubumbashi. After a brief presentation of the Congolese system, the paper will deal with the litigants' experiences in 'customary' courts and the everyday work of 'customary' judges. Each of these two points will be compared with our observations in Justice of the peace courts.

As the conclusion of the paper will show, this comparative approach between 'customary' and 'modern' courts allows for an empirically-grounded critique of the 'legalist' and 'modernist' assumptions underlying the reform of Congolese judicial institutions. It also offers new insights into the state vs. informal justice debate that has recently re-emerged in several African countries.