The legal anthropologist Simon Roberts, who has died aged 73, was a world expert in alternative dispute resolution (ADR). He drew on years of research in Africa to argue that many conflicts, especially within families, could be better brought to a conclusion without the intervention of the courts. Studying the Kgatla, a Tswana tribal group in Botswana, Roberts observed a system with a pyramid of resolution mechanisms, with a heavy stress on reconciliation. Elders took a lead in mediation, but did not act as judges.
This research was published as Tswana Family Law (1972). Its arguments have contributed to the British government's attempts to reduce the amount of time and money spent on divorce proceedings, by encouraging mediated settlements rather than court-based adjudication.
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