Abstract Over the past 600 years, African states have been subjected to powerful influences of globalisation such as the slave trade, colonialism, transcultural exchange, and the law and development movement. These influences, which reflect in transplanted European laws masquerading as state laws, are steadily eroding the identity of indigenous African laws. So, to what extent do customary courts in Nigeria reflect indigenous law identity? This unexplored question is significant for scholarly and policy perceptions of legal pluralism in post-colonial states. These perceptions tend to favour conflict of laws, rather than the dialogue occurring between indigenous laws and state laws in intersectional social fields. Informed by case analysis, interviews, and archival searches, this article presents Nigerian customary courts as Anglicised courts pretending to be indigenous courts. It argues that customary courts illustrate indigenous law’s adaptation to socioeconomic changes. In exposing state laws as a key component of these changes, the article highlights the ways customary court actors engender behavioural changes that reveal the adaptive nature of normative interaction in post-colonial societies. It suggests that the adaptive interface of state laws and indigenous laws offers a theoretical platform for legal integration in sub-Saharan Africa.

中文翻译：

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一只自以为是鸟的蝴蝶：尼日利亚习惯法庭的身份

摘要 600年来，非洲国家一直受到奴隶贸易、殖民主义、跨文化交流、法律与发展运动等全球化的强大影响。这些影响反映在伪装成国家法律的移植欧洲法律中，正在稳步侵蚀非洲土著法律的身份。那么，尼日利亚的习惯法庭在多大程度上反映了土著法律身份？这个未经探索的问题对于后殖民国家法律多元化的学术和政策看法具有重要意义。这些看法倾向于支持法律冲突，而不是在交叉社会领域中土著法律与州法律之间发生的对话。通过案例分析、访谈和档案搜索，本文将尼日利亚的习惯法庭描述为冒充土著法庭的英国化法庭。它争辩说，习惯法庭说明了土著法律对社会经济变化的适应。文章将州法律作为这些变化的一个关键组成部分，强调了习惯法庭行为者导致行为变化的方式，这些变化揭示了后殖民社会规范互动的适应性。它表明国家法律和土著法律的适应性接口为撒哈拉以南非洲的法律一体化提供了理论平台。这篇文章强调了习惯法庭行为者导致行为改变的方式，这些改变揭示了后殖民社会规范互动的适应性本质。它表明国家法律和土著法律的适应性接口为撒哈拉以南非洲的法律一体化提供了理论平台。这篇文章强调了习惯法庭行为者导致行为改变的方式，这些改变揭示了后殖民社会规范互动的适应性本质。它表明国家法律和土著法律的适应性接口为撒哈拉以南非洲的法律一体化提供了理论平台。