Introduction

Since the day when, in my first year of teaching, I found myself trying to explain the feudal origins of trover to a puzzled class of Sudanese students, I have had occasional flickers of doubt whether the English law of torts has been one of Britain's most appropriate colonial legacies. One journey down the Lagos-Ibadan road should suffice to raise questions about the suitability of the common-law action for negligence as an instrument for compensating for or reducing road accidents in Nigeria; while the amount of damages awarded in some East African personal injuries actions, like the Mercedes Benz, contrasts sharply with the general living standards of the vast majority of the local population. Nevertheless the distinction between libel and slander, and between aggravated and punitive damages, and even some survivals from the Year Books have found their way into the law reports and treatises of some African jurisdictions. The elegant generalities of civilian doctrines of extra-contractual obligation seem, not surprisingly, to have made the transition to warmer climates more smoothly.