The case was adjourned to give time to the defendant to pay the remaining portion of malobolo. This case fell on the four walls of custom. The court was alive to the fact that benefits of a custom cannot be invoked before a fundamental and necessary customary duty is carried out. 3.5 Status - The Domain of Customary Law To the consumers of local court justice, the most important role of the local courts is in the settlement of domestic disputes arising from marriage relation and access to sexual or reproductive resources. The cardinal point is that the theory of customary law is primarily founded on status.
Contract plays a secondary law, and to some extent, it is a modification borrowed from received law.
Under Bemba custom, a parent or guardian of a girl has a right to sue any person who enjoys the first act of sex with her. This is the claim for ulupe lwa chisungu. What is significant is that the action cannot be brought by the girl who is the victim of the illegal sexual relation. The right to sue is derived from the family status and can only be claimed by the family. It is noteworthy that in these sexual cases, the girl who is the subject of the sexual claim is joined with the man as a co-defendant.