''Xeer'' (pronounced ) is the traditional

legal system A legal system is a set of legal norms and institutions and processes by which those norms are applied, often within a particular jurisdiction or community. It may also be referred to as a legal order. The comparative study of legal systems is th ...

used by

Somalis The Somali people (, Wadaad's writing, Wadaad: , Arabic: ) are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group and nation native to the Somali Peninsula. who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic languages, East ...

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

Somali Region The Somali Region (, , ), also known as Soomaali Galbeed () and officially the Somali Regional State, is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in eastern Ethiopia. It is the largest region of Ethiopia. The state borders the Ethiopian regions ...

of Ethiopia, and the North Eastern Province in Kenya. It is one of the three systems from which formal Somali

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

draws its inspiration, the others being civil law and

Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

. It is believed to pre-date

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. However, Islam influenced it, with Xeer incorporating many Islamic legal principles. Under this system, the elders, known as the , serve as mediator

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

s and help settle court cases, taking

precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...

and custom into account.Legal Affairs
/ref> Xeer is

polycentric Polycentric is an English adjective, meaning "having more than one center," derived from the Greek words ''polús'' ("many") and ''kentrikós'' ("center"). Polycentricism (or polycentricity) is the abstract noun formed from polycentric. They may r ...

in that different groups within Somali society have different interpretations of xeer.

Application of ''xeer''

Somali society is traditionally structured around a patriarchal

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

based system, subdivided into sub-clans, then lineages, and finally ''mag'' groupings. These groups are bound together either by family ties or

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

. ''Xeer''

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

usually revolves around the latter groups, as these are the smallest. In these groups, each member is responsible aiding in the payment for the

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

s of another and must accordingly bear some fraction of any decided

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beh ...

if the accused cannot afford to do so themselves. Within this system, only the victim or immediate family of a victim can bring criminal proceedings to ''xeer'' mediation. If the victim is a man, his father, brothers, or uncles can bring complaints. If the victim is a woman, complaints can be brought forward by the men in her family or the men in her husband's family. In ''xeer'', crimes are transgressions against

property rights The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership), is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their Possession (law), possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely ...

. Justice is directed in the form of material compensation to the victim. If the accused is found guilty, some material

restitution Restitution and unjust enrichment is the field of law relating to gains-based recovery. In contrast with damages (the law of compensation), restitution is a claim or remedy requiring a defendant to give up benefits wrongfully obtained. Liability ...

must be paid. If restitution cannot be given, ''mag'' retribution is due, measured in terms of

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

(usually healthy female

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

s), to be paid to the victim or the victim's family. There is no concept of

imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

under ''xeer''. In some cases, elders may advise that neither side seeks restitution or retribution. The

verdict In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In England and Wales ...

is enforced by the victim's family or else by all able-bodied clansmen within the area wherein the verdict is to be executed.Somalia: A Tradition of Law, by Nicola Gladitz. ''Xeer'' judges are made up of the heads of extended families. These family heads are chosen for their knowledge of the law and

wisdom Wisdom, also known as sapience, is the ability to apply knowledge, experience, and good judgment to navigate life’s complexities. It is often associated with insight, discernment, and ethics in decision-making. Throughout history, wisdom ha ...

, but otherwise, there is no formal training, and each judge is allowed to formulate their own

doctrine Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...

s and

legal principle A legal doctrine is a framework, set of rules, procedural steps, or test, often established through precedent in the common law, through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case. For example, a doctrine comes about when a judge ma ...

s. Multiple judges are chosen to preside over each case by the involved parties, with this delegation being called an "ergo". The number of judges involved in a case is usually around ten, though it can be as few as two. In each case, the goal is to reach consensus between the parties.

Arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...

traditionally takes place under a large tree, and the mediators ask each party to submit to the judge's ruling. In modern times, meeting halls are often used instead of sitting under a tree. Each party has the right to appoint a representative to speak on its behalf while a recorder loudly repeats any important points that are made. If a fact is disputed, its veracity must be obtained by the

testimony Testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. Law In the law, testimon ...

of three witnesses. If this cannot be done, an

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

must be sworn. Should proceedings become heated, the presiding judge may order a recess, wherein both parties discuss issues relating to the case in small informal groups. Once the mediation has been decided, an

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

may be requested, although all parties must agree.

Principles of ''xeer''

Different groups within Somali society undertake oral agreements with each other to define ''xeer'' law. Despite this informal nature, there is a series of generally accepted principles, agreements, and ideas that constitute ''xeer'', referred to collectively as "''xissi adkaaday''". These are: *the payment of ''mag'' by the collective group (clan, sub-clan, lineage, or mag group) from which an offender originates as compensation for the crimes of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, bodily assault,

theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

, and defamation of character, given to the victim or victim's family; *the protection of vulnerable or respected members of society such as older adults, women, children, poets, guests and

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

people *obligations to the family such as the payment of a

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

to a

bride A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is a newlywed. When marrying, if the bride's future spouse is a man, he is usually referred to as the ''bridegroom'' or just ''groom''. In Western culture, a bride may be attended by a maid, ...

*the rights of a

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

er to marry the dead wife's sister and the inheritance of a

by the dead man's brother *the punishments for

elopement Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...

*and the division and use of

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

like water and land.

References

Sources

* Abdile, Mahdi (2012). Customary Dispute Resolution in Somalia. ''African Conflict & Peacebuilding Review'', Volume 2, Number 1: 87–110. * Gladitz, Nicola. ''Somalia: A Tradition of Law'' * Notten, Michael van (2005). ''The Law of the Somalis: A Stable Foundation for Economic Development in the Horn of Africa''.

External links

* {{Somaliland topics Law of Somalia Courts by type Customary legal systems Ancient Somalia Collectivism Culture of Somalia Somali inventions

Application of ''xeer''

Principles of ''xeer''

See also

References

Sources

External links