Following the Money: Understanding Forum Shopping and the 'Justice Marketplace' in Sierra Leone.

This article examines the economic factors influencing litigants’ choices between official magistrates’ courts and unofficial customary courts known as barrays in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Despite barrays being illegal and often more expensive than formal courts, many urban litigants prefer them due to their transparency, predictability of costs, procedural participation, and reputation-enhancing outcomes, which align with local conceptions of justice. The study, based on extensive fieldwork, reveals that barrays operate as a justice marketplace sustained by monetary transactions that fund their existence and foster networks, including with state actors like the police. The findings challenge assumptions that cost alone restricts access to justice, highlighting instead the importance of incalculable social and procedural benefits in forum choice within a legally pluralistic urban context.