SOAS Research Online

Abstract

As a physical presence, there does exists some form of contract law in Cameroon. This consists mainly of the English common law of contract, the French civil law of contract and to a lesser extent, the customary or indigenous contract laws of Cameroon. One might expect that these three, if put together, will produce what can be termed a Cameroonian contract law. Yet the status of such a Cameroonian contract law, considered in such terms, remains very uncertain for three reasons. Firstly, while contract law in England and France can easily be found in the great mass of relevant reported decisions of their courts, in the great relevant statutes passed by their legislators and in the learned commentary on the subject, the same cannot be said of Cameroon where there is at present no law reporting, very little by way of legislation relating to contract law, and hardly any learned commentary on the subject of contract. Secondly, contract law as applied by the courts is surely disfigured in some way by the persistent deference to English and French authority (some of which is dated), and thus stuck in the habit of derivation from foreign sources of diminishing relevance. Finally, the courts and the legislator, by their continuous neglect of relevant indigenous laws, have failed to sufficiently "Cameroonise" the law of contract. The need to respond to the first problem and to elaborate on the second and third problems combine to form the focus of this thesis. This thesis therefore determines the place of customary contract law and its role, if any, vis-a-vis, the inherited western laws, examines and analyses the operation of English and French contract laws in Cameroon, bearing in mind any important developments in these two countries and provides a detailed overview of contract law in Cameroon.