Amazigh Studies with Driss Iwzalene

THE AMAZIGHS - THE GOVERNMENT FRENCH OF NORTH AFRICA – HERBERT J. LIEBESNY

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS THE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM Philadelphia 19 4 3
INTRODUCTION
The Amazighs are Native, the Amazighs are regarded as the autochthonous population and inhabit the more
inaccessible mountain regions of the three territories where their aboriginal tribal organization has been kept
largely intact.
In general it may be stated that the Amazighs tend to be sedentary.
We must be aware of the fact that many of the educated Amazighs will insist on a fair interpretation of the Atlantic
Charter, with the contents of which they are fully acquainted.
CHAPITER II (Amazigh Soussian Nation, Amazigh Rifian Nation and other Amazigh Nations)
The population of the independent regions is Amazigh.
The gradual pacification of the hinterland more and more Amazigh tribes were brought under effective control.
It has been the policy of France not to extend the political organization of the Arab Makhzen territory to these
tribes but to leave them under the rule of their own customary institutions.
This principle was laid down in a dahir of September 11, 1914 by Arab Makhzen. In this dahir the Grand Vizier,
in cooperation with the head of the General Secretariat, was charged with the publication of a list of those
tribes that followed the Amazigh customs and with the designation of those laws and regulations of the Arab
Makhzen which should, in the future, be applicable to these Amazigh tribes. In these ljmaet ‘Local congress of
the community’ plays a much more important role than in the territories under the control of the Arab Makhzen,
where it has been pushed into the background by the caids. Among the Amazigh tribes ljmaet ‘Local congress
of the community’ is the highest political organ and exercises administrative as well as judicial functions.
The Jurisdiction in the Amazigh Nations
It was not the policy of the French to submit the Amazigh tribes in the pacified regions to the rule of the
Islamic law, and their customary institutions were kept in being. In many of these tribes, especially in the
Middle Atlas, the judicial functions were not in the hands of caids but primarily in the hands of the ljmaet ‘Local
congress of the community’.
This section has original criminal jurisdiction over all cases from the Amazigh territory in which the High
Tribunal otherwise would have original jurisdiction in the Arab Makhzen territory. It has appellate jurisdiction
in all cases originating in the Customary Law Tribunals. A special government commissioner is attached to the
Section. Appeals in civil cases have to be brought before the Tribunals of Appeal Applying Customary Law.
These Tribunals, having exclusively appellate jurisdiction, were established in the Amazigh country.
The only exception concerning the Amazigh tribunals was abolished in 1930.
CHAPITER III (Amazigh Kabylian Nation, Amazigh Chaouian Nation, Mazabian Nation and other Amazigh Nations)
The third Delegation consists of two sections: one composed of natives who are not Kabylians, that is, do not
belong to the Amazigh tribes, the other of delegates from Kabylia (Section kabyle).
The Amazigh tribes of Kabylia did not have any cadis. Similar to Amazigh Soussian Nation, Amazigh Rifian
Nation, Amazigh Chaouian Nation and other Amazigh Nations, the judicial powers were at one time in the hands
of ljmaet ‘Local congress of the community’. After the revolt of 1871, ljmaet ‘Local congress of the community’
in Kabylia were disorganized and the situation with regard to the jurisdiction was altered profoundly by a decree
of August 29, 1874. This decree completely substituted French justices of the peace for the native Tribunals.
In 1853 the French took the Amazigh Mazabian region under protection and annexed it in 1882. This cities of
Ghardaïa, BeniIsquem, Melika, Bou-Noura, El-Ateuf, Berrian and Guerara. These are the seven cities of the
Abadites. The Abadites or Mazabians as they are called from the region they inhabit, are a special Islamic sect
which stands outside the four orthodox Moslem rites. The sect was formed in the eighth century during inter-
Arabic struggles. Adherents of it settled in Africa, and later many Amazighs embraced the teachings of this rite.
At one time the Abadites formed an important kingdom in that region.
Today, the Amazigh Mozabite population is agricultural and sedentary. The Amazigh Mazabians have
developed their own legal system and do not follow the legal rules of any of the orthodox rites. After the
occupation, and even more so after the annexation in 1882, the French were therefore faced with the question
how the Abadites should be organized with regard to jurisdiction both inside and outside the Mazab.
CHAPTER IV : LEGAL SYSTEMS IN THE AFRICAN DEPENDENCIES IN AMAZIGH NATIONS
The law which is applied in French North Africa may be divided into three main groups: French law, Islamic
law, and the customary law of the non-Arabized Amazigh tribes. These three main bodies of laws are co-
existent in the territories. Besides these three main groups, several smaller groups have to be considered: Jewish
law to a certain extent, and Abadite law in Amazigh Mazabian Nation.
The customary law of the Amazigh Nations
Local customs play only a very minor role among the Arabs and the Arabized Amazighs in North Africa.
However, among the semi-Arabized or non-Arabized Amazighs in the Kabylia, Chaouia, Mazab, Souss, Atlas
and Rif, rules of customary law are very important. Th e customary law of the Amazigh tribes is called Azerf,
Azref signify the general custom, of the local custom. This customary law was codified by the Amazighs
themselves in only one respect, namely, with regard to rules of penal law. Penalties to be inflicted in cases where
offenses against the law were committed were often laid down in writing in so-called Izerfan. Only rarely do
these Azerf contain modifications of general or local customary law. No official codification of the Amazigh law
has so far been attempted by the French. An excellent collection, however, of general and local Amazigh
customary law was published in 1873 by A. Hanoteau and A. Letourneux under the title La Kabylie et les
coutumes kabyles. Since then many monographs have been published on the subject of Amazigh law, but the
work of these two authors is still regarded as fundamental and it is also widely used by the French courts.
The principles are by analogy also applied where two local laws, protectorate law and Amazigh customary law.