The former colonies and protectorates of Britain in East and West Africa all have the problem of reconciling the legal systems of widely different cultures in their efforts to create stable independent countries. Because of the way in which it was settled, and the manner of its evolution into an independent republic, Sierra Leone is a particularly good place in which to look at the various elements of the problem. The “settlers” of the colony were not Europeans but freed slaves brought back to Africa from the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and England by Britain.