Xeer: Somali customary law, how it works and how it is changing

What xeer is

Xeer is a body of agreements between Somali lineage groups. It sets what happens when a member of one group harms a member of another. It is not written down. Elders carry it in memory and in precedent.

The anthropologist I. M. Lewis called northern Somali politics a system of "clanship and contract". Each group was bound to others by explicit xeer, and he counted more than 360 compensation-paying groups in the British Protectorate alone (Lewis, Africa, 1959).

A 2023 study for the Clingendael Institute describes xeer as "the predominant venue for dispute resolution" in much of Somalia and Somaliland, especially in rural areas. People trust it for its speed and ease. It grew stronger after the state collapsed in 1991 (Peterson and Zaki, Reforming Somali Customary Justice, KPSRL and Clingendael, 2023, pp. 4–5).

How it works

1. Harm is done. For example, a theft, an injury or a killing.
2. Elders meet. Elders (odayaal) of both groups sit together. Each side explains its case.
3. Precedent is applied. Elders recall how similar cases were settled between the same two groups.
4. Compensation is set. It is called mag in Somali and diya in Arabic. The usual measure is camels or their cash value.
5. The group pays. The offender's whole compensation group shares the cost.

Peterson and Zaki give an example: a homicide settled at 80 camels, worth about US$40,000. The typical offender pays about 20 percent himself, close family another 15 percent, and the wider group the rest (Peterson and Zaki, 2023). Elsewhere a killing has required 100 camels (same study).

Sharia recommends compensation and reconciliation but does not fix the amount, so local custom decides it (Gundel, The predicament of the 'Oday', Danish Refugee Council and Novib/Oxfam, 2006).

Rules of war: biri-ma-geydo

Xeer also limited war. Under biri-ma-geydo, "those spared from the spear", women, children, religious figures, elders and prisoners were not to be harmed. Wells and grazing land were off limits, because destroying them meant famine for all. Breaking these rules brought shame on the offender's whole clan (Ayan Abdirashid Ali, Lieber Institute, West Point, 2026).

Xeer, sharia and the state

Most areas use three systems side by side: xeer, sharia and the penal code. Federal policy limits xeer to less serious crimes, but practice varies (US State Department, Religious Freedom Report 2023, via ecoi.net). The Constitution commits governments to dialogue among traditional leaders and to "the protection and development of traditional law" (Constitution of Somalia, Article 52).

Its limits

The same study records three main concerns:

• Women are excluded. Only 6.7 percent of elders said a woman who survived sexual assault could attend her own hearing.
• Collective payment. The group pays, so the offender bears little cost, and victims may receive little of the compensation.
• Power matters. Smaller clans with fewer men have less weight in negotiation.

Source for all three: Peterson and Zaki, 2023, pp. 4–5 and 14.

Elders want change

The study interviewed 400 elders in late 2022 and early 2023. When offered one shared xeer for all clans, with precedents applying to everyone, 65.7 percent strongly supported it and another 15.0 percent somewhat supported it. Between 71.6 and 77.2 percent supported sharing information about cases more openly (Peterson and Zaki, 2023).

Why it matters

Xeer shows that Somalis built working law without a central state, by agreement. Most elders now say one fair xeer for every clan would be better. That is the kind of shared rule a united nation is built on.