Legal institutions are an important determinant of economic performance, particularly in the post-conflict
context. In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide the crippled judicial system failed to administer justice
in a timely manner. A modified version of the traditional Gacaca courts were introduced to hear cases
from the backlog of over 100,000 genocide suspects. We find that the Gacaca courts performed well as a
justice system given the constraints faced. The Gacaca courts generated valuable information about the
genocide suspects and increased access to the justice system. The introduction of the Gacaca courts
improved the performance of the formal justice system and facilitated post-conflict economic
performance.