Studying the Past in Present Tense: International Law in the Benin Empire

ABSTRACT Africa’s international legal history remains an understudied and grossly neglected aspect of international law within and outside the continent. Both the pedagogic and practical processes of international law present Eurocentric perspectives as the universal standard, thereby excluding the contributions of other non-European civilisations to internationality. This article looks at the practise of internationality in the Benin Empire. Both oral history and accounts of European explorers not only point to the sophistication of the organisational structure of the Kingdom but also indicated some important elements of its interactions with external parties. The consideration of the Benin Empire is predicated on two points. One is to provide the specific aspects of the Empire’s international law/relations engagements. The second seeks to use the Benin Empire as an entrée analytical lens to illuminate the imperative of further research on Africa’s international legal history and, therefore, stimulate the decolonisation of the understanding of this discipline.