It is assumed in this article that there is an urgent need to establish in African states adequate facilities for legal education, and that such education should be of the highest possible standard and adaptable for the special needs of the new African countries. Hitherto much of the law in which an African student was instructed was that which was received from and is applied by the European colonial powers. He was not instructed in customary law or the special legislation of his country. Today the special legislation of a new African state has become increasingly important especially in the fields of co-operatives, trade unionism, agriculture, industry, public administration and social relations. Thus the lawyer of any African state whose only equipment is the received law, which in reality will remain a basis for the understanding of the new legislation, becomes ill-equipped for either private practice or the public service.

In French-speaking Equatorial Africa law has been taught since October, 1959, at a school of law and an administrative wing at Brazzaville. The school of law since December, 1961, has taught the first two years of the law and economics degrees. There are also other teaching centres in the other capitals of Equatorial Africa. The total student enrolment is 200.