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Magistrates of Congo (1885–1960): Prosopography and Biography as Combined Tools for the Study of the Colonial Judicial Body

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Modernisation of the Criminal Justice Chain and the Judicial System

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 50))

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Abstract

This chapter presents the first results of a prosopographical study on Belgian colonial magistrates. After a presentation of sources and their limits, it comes back on the exploitation of data arranged around four moments of the professional path of the magistrate: recruitment, training, career and the return in Belgium. This general analysis is followed by a focus on the unusual career of Antoine Sohier, colonial magistrate who became president at the Court of cassation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    X. Rousseaux, “Vers une histoire post-coloniale de la justice et du droit en situation coloniale?”, in Ch. Braillon, L. Montel, B. Piret and P.-L. Plasman (ed.), Droit et justice en Afrique coloniale: tradition, production et réformes, Brussels, Université Saint-Louis, 2014, p. 11; P. Van Schuylenbergh, “Trop plein de mémoires, vide d’histoire? Historiographie et passé colonial belge en Afrique centrale”, in P. Van Schuylenbergh, C. Lanneau and P.-L. Plasman (ed.), L’Afrique belge aux XIXe et XXe siècles. Nouvelles recherches et perspectives en histoire coloniale, Brussels, P.I.E. Lang, 2014, p. 44.

  2. 2.

    Rousseaux, “Vers une histoire post-coloniale de la justice et du droit en situation coloniale?”, p. 15.

  3. 3.

    M. Semakula Kiwanuka, “Colonial policies and administrations in Africa: the myths of the contrasts”, in African Historical Studies, 3-2, 1970, pp. 295–315.

  4. 4.

    M. Fabre, “Le magistrat Outre-mer, un élément capital de la stratégie coloniale”, in La Justice et le droit: instruments d’une stratégie coloniale, Rapport fait à la mission de Recherche Droit et Justice, 2001; M. Fabre, “Les justices coloniales: clones imparfaits du système judiciaire métropolitain”, in Quaderni Fiorentini, 2005, no. 33/34, t. II, Milan, 2005; B. Durand, “Le Parquet et la Brousse. Procureurs généraux et Ministère public dans les colonies françaises sous la Troisième République”, in Staatsanwaltschaft, Europaische und Amerikanische Geschichten, Frankfurt am Main, Max-Planch-Institut, Klosterman, 2005, pp. 105–137; F. Renucci (ed.), Dictionnaire des juristes ultramarins (16 e-20 e siècles), December 2012; J.-Cl. Farcy, “Quelques données statistiques sur la magistrature coloniale française (1837-1987)”, in Clio@Themis, no. 4, March 2011.

  5. 5.

    P.-L. Plasman, “Un État de non-droit? L’établissement du pouvoir judiciaire au Congo léopoldien 1885–1889”, in Ch. Braillon, L. Montel, B. Piret and P.-L. Plasman (ed.), Droit et justice en Afrique coloniale: tradition, production et réformes, Brussels, Université Saint-Louis, 2014, pp. 27–28.

  6. 6.

    Rousseaux, “Vers une histoire post-coloniale de la justice et du droit en situation coloniale?”, p. 15.

  7. 7.

    Plasman, “Un État de non-droit?ˮ p. 37; B. Piret, “Les structures judiciaires ‘européennes’ du Congo belge. Essai de synthèse”, in P. Van Schuylenbergh, C. Lanneau and P.-L. Plasman (ed.), L’Afrique belge aux XIXe et XXe siècles. Nouvelles recherches et perspectives en histoire coloniale, Brussels, P.I.E. Lang, 2014, pp. 163–178.

  8. 8.

    The procedure involving a single judge after World War One, for example (Loi du 25 octobre 1919 modifiant temporairement l’organisation judiciaire et la procédure devant les cours et tribunaux, Moniteur Belge, 9 November 1919).

  9. 9.

    L. Montel, “Le contrôle des magistrats dans le Congo léopoldien, d’après les registres du Service du personnel d’Afrique (SPA) (1885–1908)”, in Ch. Braillon, L. Montel, B. Piret and P.-L. Plasman (ed.), Droit et justice en Afrique coloniale: tradition, production et réformes, Brussels, Université Saint-Louis, 2014, pp. 51–78.

  10. 10.

    Recueil mensuel des ordonnances, arrêtés, circulaires, instructions et ordres de service, État Indépendant du Congo, Gouvernement local, Boma. Located at the library of the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs (FPS FA) in Brussels.

  11. 11.

    Such as: A. Lycops and G. Touchard, État indépendant du Congo; recueil usuel de la législation des conventions internationales et des documents administratifs avec des notes de concordance, 7 t. 1–7, Brussels, P. Weissenbruch, 1903–1913; O. Louwers, Lois en vigueur dans l’État indépendant du Congo. Textes annotés d’après les instructions officielles et la jurisprudence des tribunaux, Brussels, P. Weissenbruch, 1905. Rearranged and entitled Codes et lois du Congo belge, then later updated by Pierre Piron and Jacques Devos (1943–1960), these compilations remained reference works until Congolese Independence in 1960.

  12. 12.

    W. R. Louis, Ruanda-Urundi, 1884–1919, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1963.

  13. 13.

    “Rapport au roi-souverain sur l’œuvre au Congo”, in BO de l’EIC, 1891, p. 171.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., p. 172.

  15. 15.

    For example: the Decree of 27 April 1889, on the reorganisation of the repressive justice begins with “reviewed the Decree of 8 April 1889” which is not recorded in the volume. Similarly, the BO of 1897, in its first article, refers to the revocation of the Decree of 5 August 1892, creating a territorial court at Matadi, and of the Decree of 14 April 1894, extending to the district of Cataracts the jurisdiction of the territorial court of Matadi: these two decrees do not appear in the BO.

  16. 16.

    FPS FA, SPA, registers 195 to 232.

  17. 17.

    “Décret du 30 octobre 1885”, in BO de l’ÉIC, 1885, pp. 25–29.

  18. 18.

    “The ‘notes’ were scrupulously recorded until 1912 then became more messy until their final abandonment in 1914”. Montel, “Le contrôle des magistrats dans le Congo léopoldien”, p. 52.

  19. 19.

    We regret the absence of other personal files after we have seen the example offered by the file of Edgard Vanderschueren. However, it sheds essential light on SPA records, in particular because it captures even better how and why those records were produced and kept. Personal file ‘Edgard Vanderschueren’, FPS FA, SPA (162) 194, box n° 57 file n°35; Montel, “Le contrôle des magistrats dans le Congo léopoldien”, p. 55.

  20. 20.

    FPS FA, SPA, register 892; Montel, “Le contrôle des magistrats dans le Congo léopoldien”, p. 55.

  21. 21.

    Indeed, in most cases, they are not related to magistrates, but to lower-ranking agents. The latter have not yet been taken into account for the current project work.

  22. 22.

    Recueil mensuel des Arrêtés, Circulaires, Instructions et Ordres de service, Boma, Imprimerie de l’État, August 1905, p. 142.

  23. 23.

    On the interim, cf. for example, Farcy, “Quelques données statistiques sur la magistrature coloniale française”, p. 2 and B. Durand, “Les magistrats coloniaux entre absence et errance”, in B. Durand and M. Fabre (dir.), Le juge et l’outre-mer. Les roches bleues de l’Empire colonial, Lille, Centre d’histoire judiciaire, 2004, pp. 47–70.

  24. 24.

    Personal files can be accessed after authorisation.

  25. 25.

    Farcy, “Quelques données statistiques sur la magistrature coloniale française”.

  26. 26.

    L. H. Gann and P. Duignan, The rulers of Belgian Africa 1884–1914, Princeton, Princeton University Press, pp. 164–181.

  27. 27.

    About foreigners present in the CFS, see the works of Lilian Nielsen devoted to Danes and the book by R. Giordano, Belges et Italiens du Congo-Kinshasa. Récits de vie avant et après l’indépendance, Paris, Karthala, 2008.

  28. 28.

    “Rapport du secrétaire d’État, E. Van Eetvelde, au Roi-Souverain, le 21 mai 1897”, in Bulletin Officiel, 1897, pp. 192–193.

  29. 29.

    Fonds SPA, register no. 94, sheets 243 and 355; register 95, sheet 504.

  30. 30.

    A. Sohier, Les rapports entre les magistratures coloniale et métropolitaine. Discours prononcé à la Conférence du Jeune Barreau de Bruxelles, Brussels, 1926, p. 13.

  31. 31.

    This situation came to an end with the promulgation of the Act of 10 August 1921 which allowed Belgian magistrates who left for Congo to preserve their years of service as well as their promotion opportunities. This stipulation facilitated the departure of experienced magistrates to Belgium such as Joseph Derriks who left the Huy Court of First Instance to preside over the Court of Appeal in Élisabethville in 1924.

  32. 32.

    The École coloniale (Colonial School) was founded in 1903 and the legal section welcomed its first students in 1911. The Université coloniale (Colonial University) was created in 1920. c. Van Leeuw, L’administration territoriale au Congo belge et au Ruanda Urundi. Fondements institutionnels et expérience vécue 1912–1960, Louvain-la-Neuve, Université catholique de Louvain, 1981, p. 143.

  33. 33.

    “Décret du Roi Souverain du 21 avril 1886 concernant l’organisation judiciaire”, in Bulletin Officiel, 1896, p. 104.

  34. 34.

    In 1926, when Antoine Sohier saw that the magistrates in Congo were insufficiently trained, he proposed replacing the traineeship in Africa by a one-year training period in Belgium, during which the would-be magistrates would learn the various aspects of the job with the help of experienced magistrates. His proposal was turned down, however. Sohier, Les rapports entre les magistratures coloniale et métropolitaine, pp. 18–19.

  35. 35.

    “Décret du Roi Souverain du 21 avril 1886 concernant l’organisation judiciaire”, in Bulletin Officiel, 1896, p. 104 and the following one. Few theses have been preserved. Only around 50 of them, defended in the 1930 s, can be found in the fonds Justice (FPS FA library).

  36. 36.

    A. Gohr, “Organisation judiciaire de Congo belge”, in Les Novelles. Corpus Juris Belgici. Droit colonial, t. 1, Brussels, Picard, 1936, p. 107.

  37. 37.

    This principle was established by the Decree of 21 April 1896 before being embodied in articles 18 and 18A of the Colonial Charter. In this regard, read especially: Gohr, “Organisation judiciaire du Congo belge”, pp. 111–113. This situation is not unique to the Congo. French colonial magistrates are also removable, read: Farcy, “Quelques données statistiques sur la magistrature coloniale française”, p. 22.

  38. 38.

    Montel, “Le contrôle des magistrats dans le Congo léopoldien”, p. 66.

  39. 39.

    Although the amount of this retirement pension cannot be estimated, Antoine Sohier considered that it did not meet the needs of a magistrate and his family. A. Sohier, “L’organisation de la ma-gistrature or magi-stature congolaise”, in Revue de Droit et de Jurisprudence du Katanga, 2nd year, no. 2, p. 45.

  40. 40.

    Sohier, Les rapports entre les magistratures coloniale et métropolitaine, pp. 17–18.

  41. 41.

    F. Dellicour, “Gérard Galopin”, in Biographie coloniale belge, t. IV, Brussels, Institut royal Colonial belge, 1955, col. 328–331.

  42. 42.

    A. Sohier, “Un début de carrière judiciaire. Souvenirs et réflexions”, in Journal des Tribunaux d’Outre-Mer, no. 100, 15 October 1958, p. 145.

  43. 43.

    Fonds SPA, register no. 895.

  44. 44.

    J. Sohier, “Sigvald Meek”, in Biographie coloniale belge, t. VIII, Brussels, Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences, 1998, col. 283–288.

  45. 45.

    “Chronique: dans le monde judiciaire”, in Revue de droit et de jurisprudence du Katanga, no. 9, 15 July 1925, p. 254.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., p. 255.

  47. 47.

    Sohier, Les rapports entre les magistratures coloniale et métropolitaine, pp. 13–14.

  48. 48.

    These criticisms are especially present in: Sohier, Les rapports entre les magistratures coloniale et métropolitaine.

  49. 49.

    “Société d’études juridiques du Katanga—Statuts”, in Revue de droit et de jurisprudence du Katanga, no. 4, 15 February 1925, p. 102.

  50. 50.

    “Éditorial”, in Revue de droit et de jurisprudence du Katanga, no. 1, 15 November 1924, p. 1.

  51. 51.

    “Société d’Etudes juridiques. Fête du premier anniversaire”, in Revue de droit et de jurisprudence du Katanga, no. 1, 15 November 1925, no. 2, p. 51.

  52. 52.

    E. Lamy, “Antoine Sohier”, in Biographie belge d’Outre-Mer, t. VIII, Brussels, Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences, 1998, col. 392.

  53. 53.

    “Société d’Etudes juridiques. Fête du premier anniversaire”, p. 53.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.

  55. 55.

    After the Independence of Congo in 1960, it took the name Revue juridique d’Afrique centrale, then was renamed Revue juridique du Congo in 1964 and Revue juridique du Zaïre in 1967.

  56. 56.

    “Société d’Etudes juridiques. Fête du premier anniversaire”, p. 51.

  57. 57.

    “Chronique: le départ de monsieur le procureur général Sohier”, in Revue de droit et de jurisprudence du Katanga, no. 2, 15 February 1932, p. 67.

  58. 58.

    “Éditorial”, in Bulletin des juridictions indigènes et du droit coutumier congolais, no. 1, January 1933, p. 1.

  59. 59.

    Lamy, “Antoine Sohier”, col. 393.

  60. 60.

    A. Sohier, “Fondons des cercles d’études juridiques”, in Journal des tribunaux d’Outre-Mer, no. 37, 15 July 1953, p. 123.

  61. 61.

    “Chronique: le départ de monsieur le procureur général Sohier”, p. 68.

  62. 62.

    Lamy, “Antoine Sohier”, col. 394–395.

  63. 63.

    Ibid., p. 392.

  64. 64.

    Currently more than thirty articles by Antoine Sohier are listed in the EPrints database on http://www.just-his.be/eprints [consulted on 9 September 2014].

  65. 65.

    Lamy, “Antoine Sohier”, col. 393.

  66. 66.

    The complete bibliography of Antoine Sohier can be found in Bulletin des séances de l’ARSOM, Brussels, 1965, fascicle no. 1, pp. 165–183.

  67. 67.

    These examples are particularly present in: Sohier, Les rapports entre les magistratures coloniale et métropolitaine.

  68. 68.

    A. Allott, J.-P. Royer, E. Lamy et al., Magistrats au temps des colonies, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, L’espace juridique, 1988; Farcy, “Quelques données statistiques sur la magistrature coloniale française”.

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  1. University of Caen, CRHQ—UMR 6583, Caen, France

    Laurence Montel

  2. Centre de Recherches en Histoire du Droit et des Institutions, Saint-Louis University, Brussels, Belgium

    Enika Ngongo, Bérengère Piret & Pascaline le Polain de Waroux

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  1. Laurence Montel
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  1. KU Leuven Public Governance Institute, Leuven, Belgium

    Annie Hondeghem

  2. Centre d'histoire du droit et de la justice (CHDJ), Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Xavier Rousseaux

  3. Centre de Recherche et d’Interventions Sociologiques (CRIS), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Fréderic Schoenaers

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Montel, L., Ngongo, E., Piret, B., le Polain de Waroux, P. (2016). Magistrates of Congo (1885–1960): Prosopography and Biography as Combined Tools for the Study of the Colonial Judicial Body. In: Hondeghem, A., Rousseaux, X., Schoenaers, F. (eds) Modernisation of the Criminal Justice Chain and the Judicial System. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 50. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25802-7_15

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