Abstract
The main topic of our dissertation is the analysis of the phenomena of the codification and the reform of the Kabyle customary law which took place during the French colonial era.The codification and the reform are two keywords of the colonial law history of the french Second Colonial Empire. Kabyle’s customary law (droit coutumier) was the result of the codification of Kabyle’s customs that was made by a soldier, Adolphe Hanoteau and a judge, Aristide Letourneux. The result of this codification was a treatise of three volumes entitled La Kabylie et les coutumes kabyles. This customary law was officially recognized by the french colonial legislation by means of Article 2 od the Decree of August 29, 1874. This official recognition of Kabyle customs creates a special legal status, the Muslim indigenous ruled by Kabyle’s customary law. The Kabyle’s customs codified by the military were subsequently reformed by the civil regime. The first customs that have been reformed was the chefaa, followed by the guardianship of the Kabyle minors through the decree of the 01 June 1902 and the Kabyle’s customs in matters of divorce and inheritance rights of Kabyle women though the decrees of May 2nd and 19th, 1931.Our thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, we have described the reason of the codification of Kabyle’s customs. We focused on the policy of the Arab Bureaux in Kabylia and the way in which the kabyle customs were written in the work of Hanoteau an Letourneux, entitled La Kabylie et les coutumes kabyles.In the second part of the thesis, we focused on the period of the civil regime (1871-1931) and the case law as well as the legislation that reformed the Kabyle’s customs regarding chefaa, guardianship of minors and the status of women. A final chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the postcolonial heritage of the French colonial legislation in the Algerian legal system during the years 1962-1975, as well as in the current French overseas law in Mayotte and in New Caledonia.