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Mauritania
Index
Through the 1960s and early 1970s, Mauritania's legal system
bore the imprint of the French legal and judicial system. As the
number of legal cadres rose, so did attempts to reconcile secular
and Islamic law. In the meantime, Islamic courts coexisted
alongside secular courts based on the French model. Neither
appellate courts nor courts with constitutional jurisdiction
existed. There were few secular lawyers; Mauritania's first
French-trained lawyer was Daddah. The 1961 Constitution provided
that French laws were to remain in effect until amended or
repealed, as were French civil, commercial, and penal codes. The
first Mauritanian chief justice of the Supreme Court was not
appointed until November 1965, in accordance with a law requiring
that a Muslim fill the position. As late as 1968, fully onequarter of Mauritania's judges (including almost all the secular
law judges) were French. Only in the early 1970s were new labor
and nationality codes adopted, along with new codes of penal,
civil, commercial, and administrative procedure.
The sharia Islamic code, which was instituted in 1980, served
as the law of the land in civil matters, except in certain socalled modern areas, such as nationality law and litigation
involving corporations, automobiles, and aircraft
(see Tenets of Islam
, ch. 2). Sharia also covered such areas of public law as
theft and murder. As in French law, no one was presumed innocent;
thus an inability to convince the sitting magistrate that the
government's charges were erroneous in itself constituted proof
of guilt, as did firsthand testimony from a witness or
codefendant. Defendants had the right to counsel and could appeal
a verdict to the Supreme Court within fifteen days. As in secular
courts, circumstantial evidence was inadmissable as proof of
guilt. Plea bargaining was also common. Although Mauritanian law
guaranteed expeditious arraignment and trial, the slow
functioning of the state's inadequately funded judicial system
frequently resulted in long pretrial detentions. Under
legislation approved by the increasingly isolated President
Daddah just prior to the 1978 coup, the state arrogated the
authority to detain without trial or appeal anyone judged to be a
national security threat. (The Taya government exercised that
prerogative in September 1986 when it arrested thirteen blacks
from the Toucouleur ethnic group, including prominent educators,
politicians, and media figures, on charges of sedition and
threatening national security.)
Although nearly all of Mauritania is Muslim, some opposition
to the institution of sharia was expressed by blacks and women,
who believed that it discriminated in favor of the white, Maure
male population. Meanwhile, communal tensions resulting from a
strict interpretation of sharia have waned over the years as
courts have moderated their interpretation. This moderation has
not prevented the government from more fully implementing
previously ignored provisions of sharia, however. In October
1986, the government interdicted the introduction and sale of
alcohol in Mauritania to all but foreign diplomats and technical
assistants working for the government. Punishment for violating
the ban was to be forty lashes administered in public as
prescribed by sharia.
At the top of the judicial system in 1987 was the Supreme
Court, which had six permanent members, including a president,
who had to be a jurist in both Islamic and secular law. In
addition, court members included two vice presidents, one Islamic
and one secular; two ordinary counselors, also one Islamic and
one secular; and a financial counselor, who served a two-year
term and was selected jointly by the ministries of justice and
finance. The six judges did not sit together to hear cases; the
number and type of judge (secular or Islamic) depended on the
nature of the case. The court had three areas of competence:
appellate review, administrative litigation, and financial
oversight. The Supreme Court also heard questions on
constitutionality.
In judging constitutional cases before the 1978 coup, the
court included only five judges: the president, the two vice
presidents, and two extraordinary counselors, one of whom was
appointed by the president of the republic and the other by the
president of the National Assembly; both extraordinary counselors
served two-year terms. (Under military rule, both were chosen by
the head of state with advice from the CMSN.) The court ruled on
the constitutionality of proposed projects, laws, or treaties at
the request of the president; determined the eligibility of
presidential candidates; adjudicated electoral disputes; and
supervised referenda and censuses. The court also closely
supervised the normal activities of the National Assembly,
ensuring its conformity to the Constitution. As the final
appellate court, the Supreme Court heard appeals from the Court
of First Instance and the Labor Court or appeals based on the
lack of jurisdiction or a violation of due process from any other
court. As an administrative court, it had first and final
jurisdiction in litigation concerning state-owned property, the
status of civil servants, and public administration. In its
financial oversight role, the Supreme Court verified public
accounts and imposed sanctions on civil servants found guilty of
fraud or mismanagement.
Data as of June 1988
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