County court opens in Jonglei capital Bor
November 4, 2013 (BOR) – A Supreme county court, headed by a paramount chief, has been officially opened in Bor, the Jonglei state capital.
“We arranged everything necessary [for] our function on 29 September. We began with the first case on this day and passed a verdict at noon”, Aluong told Sudan Tribune on Monday.
The court currently comprises of seven people, including the secretary and five other chiefs, all appointed by the county court head.
The institution, Aluong further said, would handle cases related to marriage, cow theft, disputes among people, in addition to others.
“The state president of the high court has now given us powers to try all the cases related to our customary laws, starting from boma levels, via payams [districts], till they reach us in the county court here”, he said.
For any case to appear before the village sub-chief, the complainant has to part with 50 South Sudanese Pounds [$11], added the paramount chief.
He further said anyone unsatisfied with the ruling of a village sub-chief could still open a case before the village chief upon payment of 100 SSP [about $40].
“The payam [district] court would also require the complainer to 150 SSP and final the county court would demand 200 SSP”, Aluong remarked.
A certain percentage of this money goes to the county account and we use the rest of the money to sustain the courts, he added.
At least 30 SSP, according to the head chief, would be collected from each head of cattle, adding that money collected would help the court compensate aggrieved parties in marriage-related cases.
“For instance, in case of divorce, the family of the husband has to be paid the balance of their cattle after deducting five heads of cattle for each child born during the marriage period”, he said.
A wife, in accordance to the Dinka customary laws, has no right to own her children.
“If she decides to divorce the husband for any reasons, the children will go to the latter after paying fives heads of each of these children”, Aluong said.
“The husband can take his child [children] after the age of two years and above from their mother”, he added.
(ST)