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.

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Udoka Ndidiamaka Owie and James Gathii for their useful comments on the draft of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 As Ginther (1982, 59) rightly noted:

The dominant position of the First World states is not merely a matter of their control of international legal institutions … but more fundamentally it follows from the fact that they created the modes of thought and figures of speech by which these institutions are understood and discussed and by which international law as a whole is operated and developed.

2 In this respect, the tendency will be to find direct comparative element or parallels between Eurocentric international law terminologies and practises in pre-colonial Africa. This has been referred to as a ‘conceptual state of emergency’, which is an attempt to reinforce familiarity and legitimacy of use of legal concepts (Zollmann 2018, 907).

3 Graham (1965, 320) noted that it is important to make a distinction between the ‘state of Benin’ and ‘Benin proper’:

For the state, in fact, consisted of many ‘independent communities’ which ‘were seldom at peace,’ which enjoyed ‘very full powers of local government,’ and which ‘were left pretty much alone to work out their own destinies.’ The peoples of the territory between Bonny and Lagos constituted a ‘state,’ only insofar as their tribute and services were rendered to the Oba of Benin … Benin proper should be regarded as an inland area, including the territory which is presently demarcated by the Benin Divisional Boundary.

4 Ediagbonya (2015, 209) noted that a number of reasons could be adduced for the choice of the Chief of Ughoton as an ambassador to Portugal. One was that he was also the chief priest of Olokun temple, which essentially meant that he was also regarded as a palace prince. The second was that he was the priest of an important deity that was worshipped by the King. The third was that his headship of a seaport that generated the wealth of the Empire made him a major player that could not be ignored.