Why Most Africans Still Prefer Informal Justice And What Somalia Teaches the Legal Profession

In much of Africa, justice does not begin in a courtroom.
It begins under a tree, in a compound, or before a council of elders.

In Somalia, when disputes arise  over land, business, marriage, or family  people rarely turn first to formal courts. Instead, they rely on Xeer, a centuries-old customary legal system administered by clan elders and rooted in restitution, mediation, and social repair.

This preference is not unique to Somalia. Across Africa, the majority of disputes are resolved outside formal courts through village mediation, family arbitration, religious authorities, and customary systems. Somalia simply offers one of the clearest examples of why.

And the lesson for lawyers is uncomfortable but urgent: people choose justice that works, not justice that looks modern on paper.

Somalia’s Xeer: Justice That Survived State Collapse

Xeer is not written law. It has no courthouses, no police force, and no formal enforcement arm. Yet it endured  even during decades when Somalia lacked a functioning central government.

Its authority flows from legitimacy, not statute.

Elders mediate disputes based on precedent and collective norms. Remedies focus on compensation and reconciliation rather than punishment. Enforcement relies on community pressure and shared responsibility, not coercion.

While formal institutions collapsed, justice adapted. That endurance explains why many Somalis continue to trust elders more than courts, even today.

Why Informal Justice Outperforms Formal Courts for Many Africans

1. Access Beats Perfection

For many Somalis, formal courts are distant, expensive, slow, and intimidating. Legal fees are unaffordable. Proceedings are complex. Outcomes can take years.

Xeer, by contrast, is local, fast, conducted in familiar language, and low-cost. Disputes are resolved in days or weeks, not years.

For people living on the margins, a system that is accessible but imperfect is preferable to one that is ideal but unreachable.

2. Legitimacy Matters More Than Authority

Courts derive power from the state.
Xeer derives power from social trust.

Elders are known figures whose reputations are on the line. Their rulings are enforced through social obligation, clan accountability, and the need for continued coexistence.

In tightly knit communities, this form of legitimacy can be stronger than a court order that no one has the means  or willingness  to enforce.

3. Restorative Justice Fits Social Reality

Formal legal systems often produce winners and losers. Xeer seeks to restore relationships.

Compensation, apology, and reconciliation are designed to prevent escalation and cycles of revenge. In societies where people must continue to live, trade, and intermarry, this approach is not merely cultural, it is strategic.

The Limits of Informal Justice

This is not a romantic story.

Customary systems like Xeer often disadvantage women, reinforce patriarchal norms, and lack formal safeguards such as appeals or rights-based review. Left unchecked, they can entrench inequality.

Somalia’s experience shows both sides of the coin: informal justice can stabilize communities, but it can also exclude vulnerable voices.

This is precisely why the answer is not to abandon informal justice  but to engage it intelligently.

What Lawyers and Legal Systems Must Learn

1. People Choose Outcomes, Not Institutions

Most citizens are not rejecting law. They are rejecting systems that are slow, costly, alienating, and unresponsive.

Somalia reminds us that justice is judged by experience, not architecture.

2. ADR Is Not “Alternative” — It Is Central

Mediation, arbitration, and restorative justice are not peripheral tools. For millions of Africans, they are the primary justice mechanisms.

Legal education and professional practice must treat ADR as foundational, not optional.

3. Hybrid Justice Is the Real Reform Agenda

The most effective justice reforms in Somalia and across Africa recognize that formal and informal systems must coexist.

This includes:

• Training customary leaders on human rights standards

• Creating referral pathways from elders to courts for serious violations

• Using formal courts as safeguards, not gatekeepers

• Investing in community legal empowerment

This hybrid model respects social legitimacy while protecting rights.

4. Formal Systems Must Become Human Again

Somalia’s lesson is blunt: people bypass courts not because they reject law, but because courts often feel distant, hostile, and incomprehensible.

If formal justice were cheaper, faster, closer to communities, and less intimidating, usage would rise.

The problem is not culture.
The problem is design.

The Real Missed Opportunity

Africa’s informal justice systems are often dismissed as obstacles to modernization. Somalia proves they are not.

They are functional governance systems, born of necessity and sustained by trust.

The future of justice in Africa will not be built by eliminating these systems, but by learning from them.

The real question for lawyers, judges, and policymakers is this:

Will formal legal systems adapt to how people actually live  or continue building institutions people cannot reach?

Editor’s Note | Legal Africa

This article forms part of Legal Africa’s Justice Reform Series a continuing editorial exploration of how justice is experienced, delivered, and negotiated across the continent beyond the walls of formal courtrooms.

Across Africa, millions of people resolve disputes through customary systems, family mediation, religious authorities, and community elders. These informal justice mechanisms are often treated as peripheral or temporary substitutes for “real” law. Yet in many communities, they are the primary justice systems people trust, access, and use.

By examining Somalia’s Xeer system, this piece invites legal professionals, policymakers, and reform advocates to confront an uncomfortable reality: the gap between how justice is designed and how justice is lived.

Over the coming weeks, the Legal Africa Justice Reform Series will explore:

• Informal justice systems across different African jurisdictions

• Hybrid justice models that link customary and formal law

• The role of lawyers in community mediation and legal empowerment

• Gender, rights, and accountability within informal justice frameworks

• What people-centred justice means for Africa’s legal future

Our goal is not to romanticize informal justice  nor to dismiss formal institutions  but to ask harder questions about legitimacy, access, and reform. If justice is meant to serve people, then the systems people rely on deserve serious legal attention.

— The Editors, Legal Africa