Private International Law and Teaching Methodology: An African Perspective

Abstract

Many African countries are seeking to capitalise on the recent surge in worldwide interconnectedness, which has been facilitated by globalisation to improve their cross-border trade and commerce. Increased cross-border transactions will translate into more engagements and interactions between national legal systems. It becomes evident that private international law (PIL) has a significant role to play in resolving the frictions that are associated with cross-border socio-economic engagements. While there is a great deal of scholarly work on the role of PIL in delivering seamless cross-border legal frameworks, the inquiry into the teaching of PIL and how well the budding lawyers are being equipped to effectively respond to modern and emerging PIL issues have been largely ignored. This article seeks to fill this gap by interrogating the effectiveness of the teaching and learning PIL using Nigeria as a case study. The authors carried out empirical research through questionnaires administered to 75 undergraduate students from seven universities. The data collected from the empirical inquiry gives insights into the curriculum and teaching methodology of PIL in Nigeria. The paper argues that the existing curriculum and teaching methods cannot deliver transnational or global lawyers with the hands-on skills necessary to address modern PIL issues. Based on the findings from the research, the paper recommends a multi-method teaching approach with a strong emphasis on clinical education and comparative law.

Keywords: private international law, teaching methods, comparative law, clinical education, experiential learning, active learning