Explain the Tanzanian legal system?
The legal system in Tanzania has evolved largely from the basis of British common law, in consequence of British rule over Tanganyika (now mainland Tanzania) from 1919 up to the time of independence in 1961. In the case of the islands of Unguja and Pemba, now referred to as Zanzibar, the legal system has evolved from both British common law and Islamic law. Tanzania’s legal system is sourced from English common law, statutes, case law, sharia and customary law. English common law applies only in the absence of statutory law, and where commercial law has largely being enacted, common law does not apply. Sharia is applied only in matters of marriage and succession to Tanzanians of Islamic faith, while customary law applies generally to matters of ancestral land ownership and inheritance.
