The literature on informal social control identified 12 relevant themes, and each was operationalized to include a number of descriptors, a total of 49. Some themes may have slightly different meanings in different settings, and the themes may be operationalized to accommodate the local circumstances of each setting, but without losing the spirit of the themes. This measuring instrument was used to assess the relative informality and formality of the judicial processes among the Igbos of Nigeria, so some of the descriptors were expressed with the Igbo setting (e.g., culture, language) in mind. The use of this instrument to examine the Igbo judicial processes was successful. The study examined Nigerian archival data, but this measuring instrument could also be used to scrutinize other kinds of data. Tables, bibliography