All of the Black African Nations have introduced official judicial institutions which are almost exact copies of the western judicial systems. However, the customary settlements of the tribal community continue to be used in spite of efforts to suppress them. In order to determine the importance of ancient tribal law, two sample populations (in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast) were asked whether they would prefer a conciliatory tribal settlement or a court case when faced with certain offenses. The majority of interviewees preferred the tribal settlement. Among the offenses most often referred to tribal law were witchcraft murder, destruction of a farmer's crop by his neighbor's cattle, and adultery. The study indicates the following reasons for the existence of two parallel judicial systems in Black Africa. First, the penal codes introduced by the colonial powers and taken over by the modern states are entirely unrelated to the norms and values of the traditional society. Second, the rationalist western penal codes are irreconcilable with natives' magico-religious concepts of justice. Third, the western court ritual is foreign and intimidating to the primitive mentality. Finally, located in the major cities, the courts are usually too distant to deal with the legal problems of rural areas. It is concluded that western judicial systems are ill suited for the peculiar ethnic background of African groups. The article contains statistical charts, annotations, and a bibliography.