An excellent documentation of the twentieth century history of the Sharī'a in Sudan is contained within the Judicial Circulars which have been issued from the office of the Grand Qadi from 1902–1979. During the colonial period and in the post-independence period the Circulars provided a unique means for modifying the adapting Sharī'a law in the Sudan, drawing on opinions of the Hanafī and Mālikī schools of juristic interpretation.

These Circulars and Memoranda are, in fact, basic to an understanding of the practice and application of the Sharī'a law in the Sudan. It is with these Circulars that I began my study of Sharī'a law and it is because of their importance that they were translated for my own work and in the hope that they may shortly be offered to students of the law of the Sudan who lack proficiency in the Arabic language.

When discussing rules or modes of conduct, Tswana generally referred to them collectively as mekgwa lemelao (plural forms respectively of mokgwa and molao; le- is a conjunctive formative). In the standard Tswana dictionary, mokgwa is defined as “a custom, a habit, a peculiarity”, and molao as “a law”; and when used together in a single phrase they were usually translated “custom(s) and law(s)” or, since the word order was flexible, “Law(s) and custom(s)”. The following are some examples, taken from written texts:

In a Malete case (27.1938), a widow claimed and was awarded her late husband's cattle, but the judge told her that, kamokgwa lemolao waSeiswana, “according to Tswana custom and law”, she could not take them with away from her husband's ward.

This paper is concerned with the relationship that exists between Customary and Common law in Botswana. Does it promote conflict or concord? This will be explored with reference to the general relationship between the two systems and in the particular context of marriage, divorce and division of property. One may argue for the conflict approach if one views the systems as ppositional or one may argue that there is concord by acquiescence, given the subordinate position occupied by Customary law within the national legal system of Botswana. The aim of this paper is to do neither, but rather, to show that “duality” with its implications of separateness is inappropriate, that the two systems are linked and have a symbiotic relationship, one which involves a process of mutual adaptation. The aim of this paper is to show that any conflict or concord that exists should not be defined in terms of systems viewed as independent isolated units or in terms of labels such as “Common” or “Customary” law but rather in terms of values which relate to mode of life and attach themselves to certain kinds of property. Within the national legal system of Botswana Customary and Common law co-exist. Customary law is defined as being “in relation to any particular tribe or tribal community the customary law of that tribe or tribal community so far s it is not incompatible with the provisions of any written law or contrary tomorality, humanity or natural justice”.

The 1982 Report on the Law of Succession (the Report) was the first report to be published by the Law Development Commission (the Commission) sinceit was established in 1974. This almost certainly indicates the importance which the government of Zambia attaches to the reform of the law of succession, and perhaps marks a change of attitude on its part towards customary law, which could also have implications for the law of marriage and divorce. Statements by government ministers indicate that legislation along the lines proposed by the Commission is likely in the near future. It seems appropriate, therefore, to appraise these proposals and to compare them with reforms carried out elsewhere in Commonwealth Africa.

John Whittow in a recent book observes that droughts, unlike an earthquake, a tsunami or an avalanche do not suddenly appear in a dramatic fashion hitting the newspaper headlines of an unsuspecting world. Drought, he says, is slow and insidious, a creeping death which gradually paralyses entire nations and changes the course of history.

That is how it seems Ghana was taken unawares by the recent prolonged droughts that have been affecting the country since the early part of 1982. Until then, people in Ghana had taken for granted constant water supplies, uninterrupted supply of electricity and other energy resources, principally from the Volta hydroelectric dam—the largest man-made lake in the world—feeling secure in the mistaken belief that drought comes only to the geographically arid or semi-arid parts of the world.