General characteristics and some aspects of inheritance law in modern and traditional doctrine of West Africa (based on materials of a scientific expedition to the Republic of Benin)

The scientific article contains the results of international collaboration between researchers on certain cultural aspects, public policies, and inheritance laws in the countries of the African continent, in particular in the Republic of Benin (West Africa).The relevance of the topic is due to the lack of scientific research in this segment in domestic theoretical and legal science and the simultaneous acuteness of the issues of implementing inheritance rights in the conditions of traditional and modern African law. In the course of the work, the conceptual principles and guidelines of the legal mentality of Beninese society were identified and characterized. The institutional challenges of traditionalism and modernity in the state and legal system of Benin are emphasized. The role of the liquidator (manager) of hereditary property is clarified and the expediency of creating a Unified Register of Inheritance Cases is emphasized. The socially dangerous acts regarding the legal rights and interests of heirs are emphasized. It is established that the instrument. It has been established that various forms of document forgery, manipulative influence, threats, extortion, misleading the judiciary, etc. serve as tools for unlawful actions. The result of such actions is the unlawful possession, use, disposal, embezzlement, concealment, damage, and destruction of inherited property. The polemic of the narratives of inheritance law with the foreign element in interethnic marriages is revealed and the modes of legal reality of the discourse «regime matrimonialle» are determined, which made it possible to reveal the set of meanings of socio-legal relations of modern African inheritance law and African culture. The obtained research results can be used in: scientific research - in deepening scientific knowledge about the African legal system, hereditary law of the peoples of the world; law enforcement - in considering cases in the field of private international law; educational activities – when teaching the courses «Theory of State and Law », « International Law », « Modern Legal Systems», «Comparative Family Law», «Criminal Law of Foreign States », «Civil Law», «Family Law».