Book review : Legal métissage in a micro-jurisdiction : the mixing of common law and civil law in Seychelles

Abstract

Legal métissage is an interesting and much needed contribution to the sparse legal scholarship of Seychelles. It is a book with many intertwining narrative levels. Mathilda Twomey opts for a ‘legal tradition approach’ to her analysis. In so doing, she provides a biography of a young small island state and the ongoing evolution of its legal system. The book offers a richly detailed yet critical historical account, starting from the first settlements in the 1700s all the way to modern times, in an effort to draw a picture beyond the dry black letter of the legal system. In doing so, Twomey conveys the deep roots of a sui generis legal (and national) culture. Of particular interest is the analysis of the interplay between the ‘wholesale’ model of exportation of the French ‘national patrimony’, inclusive of comprehensive codifications, with the more subtle and ‘consensual’ form of British legal imperialism.