Procedures
Two procedural codes, divided by region
Civil procedure is genuinely bifurcated: the francophone regions apply the received Code de procédure civile et commerciale, while the Northwest and Southwest apply the Southern Cameroons High Court Law of 1955 and English-derived rules. OHADA's simplified recovery procedure applies uniformly on top of both.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Tribunaux de Première Instance and de Grande Instance, Cours d'appel by region, and the Cour suprême; the CCJA takes Uniform Act questions.
- Deadline — Appel: one month from service in civil matters
- Deadline — Injonction de payer under the OHADA Act: opposition within fifteen days of service
Governing law
- Code de procédure civile et commercialeas received and amended
- Southern Cameroons High Court Law 1955 — Northwest and Southwest regions
- Acte uniforme portant organisation des procédures simplifiées de recouvrement et des voies d'exécution
In practice
Cameroon is the clearest working example of two civil procedures inside one state. The same OHADA injonction de payer is enforced through French-derived voies d'exécution in Douala and through common-law execution in Bamenda, and the 2016 dispute over which tradition governs was the proximate cause of the Anglophone crisis.