Both Nigeria and the UK have recently overhauled their securities regulation regimes, Nigeria by its Investment and Securities Act 1999 (ISA 1999) and the UK by its Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000). The FSMA 2000 has resulted in a single, cross-sectoral regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA). It regulates the whole of the UK financial services sector: investment business, banking and insurance. This Act is the culmination of an evolutionary process which began with self-imposed so-called “self-regulation” (in particular, of the London Stock Exchange in the 19th century) and led to self-regulation within a statutory framework under the Financial Services Act 1986. The main umbrella regulator under the 1986 Act was the Securities and Investments Board, the SIB, a registered company limited by guarantee, to which statutory powers were (revocably) delegated by the Government. But the day-to-day regulation of investment businesses was in fact undertaken by a number of self-regulatory organizations (SROs), which were “recognized” and overseen by the SIB. This complex institutional structure proved unsatisfactory and the FSMA 2000 now directly vests all regulatory powers in a single regulator, the FSA. In status the FSA is the SIB re-named but it now has extensive, directly conferred, statutory regulatory powers over the whole financial services sector.

Swaziland's Constitution of 2005 promised that every Swazi child would have the right to free primary school education, within three years of the constitution coming into operation. That date having passed, a civil society group took the matter to court. The case initially fared well, but in a subsequent application for performance on the original order, the court balked at making an immediately enforceable order, citing lack of resources as an obstacle. That approach was upheld by the Supreme Court. This article examines the courts’ pronouncements within the Swazi constitutional context. It discusses judicial deference, avoidance and pragmatism. Swaziland's free primary education judgments are compared with those of courts in South Africa. The remedial orders of those courts demonstrate that, although educational goods and services cannot be delivered overnight, creativity and oversight by the courts can ensure that an immediate start is made towards delivering on the constitutional promise.

Democracy and the adoption of a Bill of Rights for South Africa not only brought about political change, but it also created expectations of a better life for all. The Constitution guarantees equality before the law, access to a fair hearing and the right to legal representation in criminal matters, and the Legal Aid Board is one of the institutions tasked with giving effect to these pledges. In order to achieve its objectives and to fulfil its obligations, government embarked upon a process of transformation of existing structures and institutions and the creation of new ones. Although legal aid, and statutory provision therefore, are not new concepts in South Africa, constitutionalization resulted in the restructuring of the Legal Aid Board and changes in the method of delivery of its services. The focus is on rendering legal representation in criminal matters to the neglect of civil and non-legal problems that the poor often face, resulting in the impression that government is merely paying lip service to the promise of access to justice. This lends credence to the perception that the legal system exists in order to protect the interests of criminals. Being a developing country, it is comprehensible that priorities have to be set, but it is also true that optimum use should be made of existing structures and resources in order to deal with the needs for legal aid services as expressed by the recipients of those services. Involving students and local government are two methods that can be employed to address the multi-farious problems experienced by the less fortunate members of society.

L’évolution politique des Etats d’Afrique noire semble caractérisée par la succession de mouvements qui affectent, presque en même temps, la plupart d’entre eux. Au moment de leur accession à l’indépendance, les Etats d’Afrique noire adoptérent le modèle de la démocratie pluraliste. Les constitutions établissaient les conditions de la concurrence pacifique pour 1’exercice du pouvoir politique et l’existence de plusieurs partis permettait, apparemment, la mise en oeuvre des règies constitutionnelles. Les nouveaux Etats étaient généralement gouvernés par des hommes qui avaient mené leur peuple vers l’indépendance par l’action politique partisane et la négotiation avec la puissance coloniale. La plupart de ces gouvernants étaient des intellectuels ou des syndicalistes. A partir de 1963, un changement important se produit. La révolte de quelques sous-officiers togolais aboutit à l’assassinat du Président de la République. Ces militaires étaient mécontents mais ils n’aspiraient pas à la conquête du pouvoir. Depuis lors, les coups d’Etat organisés par des militaires se sont multipliés et dix sept pays sont actuellement dirigés par des gouvernements militaires ou issus d’un putsch militaire. Il ne parait pas excessif de parler de “l’Afrique des militaires” après “l’Afrique des instituteurs et des médecins”.

The military revolution of 15 January, 1966 brought with it ideas about striking reform of customary court systems in Nigeria.

The most notable of the reforms actually effected is the reform of customary court systems in the Northern States, where legal and judicial reforms in the pre-revolution era had always taken special care of the position of Emirs and Chiefs who wielded great powers in the administration of justice, thus playing the dual role of judges and rulers of their community.

This article analyses the barriers that expectant mothers face in accessing appropriate, quality medical services in Kenya, and investigates the potential for the regional African human rights adjudicator to use provisional measures (PMs) to protect expectant mothers. The article aims to explore whether PMs adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights could be an appropriate legal tool to secure protection for expectant mothers who are dealing with obstacles in obtaining the medical services that they need. In that regard, this contribution suggests that the situation of certain expectant mothers in Kenya meets the two necessary conditions to grant PMs under the African Human Rights system: that the situation is urgent and the measures are necessary to prevent irreparable damage. It suggests that, following the tendency of other international human rights bodies, the Commission has the potential to play a relevant role in the context of maternal mortality.

Twenty-seven African countries are currently members of the World Trade Organisation. These are, with die date of acceptance:

Before President F. W. de Klerk's epoch-making address on 2 February, 1990, anyone who predicted that within less than two years virtually all the major political parties and groupings in South Africa would be sitting around a conference table negotiating a new constitution, would have been dismissed as naive at best. Even more amazing is the substantial degree of consensus which has been achieved in what is a relatively short time, given the long history of conflict which preceded the dawning of the “new” South Africa.

The focus of the negotiations is the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (commonly referred to by the acronym Codesa). A wide spectrum of political opinion is represented here (a total of 19 different organizations at the last count), although organizations and parties on both the extreme right, and the extreme left, have refused to participate. While the government, the National Party and the African National Congress (ANC) may be seen as the main players, the role played by even the most minor participants cannot be discounted, because of the emphasis that is placed on consensus by most of the parties involved.

This is not an article on the crime of infanticide as such. It is a footnote, as it were, to Schapera's writings on infanticide in Bechuanaland. The intention is not to go into the intricacies and controversies concerning the crime of infanticide. Nor does it suggest that Schapera ever devoted any substantial book or article to infanticide. Rather he referred in passing to instances of infanticide in various articles and books he wrote on Bechuanaland. He indicated that infanticide was practised in Bechuanaland under certain circumstances, as in any other society. However, it was obvious the exact extent of the practice was unknown because the practice was shrouded in secrecy. It was only when a case had been witnessed by a third party or had been reported to the authorities that the matter reared its head. As such the statistics on infanticide are hard to come by and even where they exist they are at best misleading. The note considers the instances referred to by Schapera and comments on a few available cases. It will emerge that these cases were only those which were prosecuted in the European courts. Infanticide took place broadly under the following circumstances:

In a democratic nation, local government is the government of the people, by the people and for the people at the grassroots levels. That is, the government nearest or closest to the people. It is at the level of local government that community action in respect of community development programmes is most effective; it is also the level where democratic processes and decision-making by consensus are traditionally entrenched; where rivalries and tensions are reduced to a minimum; where local resources and patriotism are easily called to the service of the community; and, very importantly, where the people are normally confident of effective control of their own government.

Foreign investment is a major source of the capital that Nigeria and other developing markets need to promote economic activities and drive economic development. While profit mainly drives the decision to invest abroad, such decisions are also influenced by the safety of any actual investments made. Thus, investors are interested in the laws and regulations that offer them protection against corporate insider opportunism. In Nigeria, the relationship between corporate actors is mainly regulated by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA). This article investigates the corporate legal and regulatory protection for corporate shareholders in Nigeria and the UK. Comparing the corporate regulatory regime in the two jurisdictions, this article argues that the identified weaknesses in the Nigerian regulatory framework negatively impact the growth of foreign investment in the country. In view of these weaknesses, the article suggests a major review of CAMA and other regulatory instruments with a view to addressing the protection of small investors and “outsiders”, such as foreign investors.

In Ghana most land cases are determined according to Ghanaian customary law. One question, however, has since early colonial times always been decided by common-law principles: the question whether a party is estopped by previous litigation from making a claim.2 Thus a court often applies common law to determine whether an issue may be raised, and then, having given an affirmative answer, applies customary law to determine its validity. The courts have never stated any legal justification for this application of common-law rules in essentially customary-law cases. The early colonial judges, perhaps because they were British lawyers, seem to have regarded the matter as self-evident. Later judges followed the earlier decisions, and since 1960 statute law has for convenience confirmed the practice.3

Corporate criminal liability is a problematic concept, especially where it is based on an exceptionable principle such as vicarious liability. This is the case with the South African model. This article seeks to demonstrate that this model requires substantial modification because it compels the court to adopt the incoherent exercise of holding a corporation (which is a distinct person) liable for the intentional act (crime) of any of its agents, whether or not there is criminal intention on the corporation's part and whether or not it was aware of, or could have prevented the commission of the offence. It is submitted that it is more appropriate to hold a corporation liable only where it has been established that the course of conduct that resulted in the offence was encouraged or tolerated by persons who embody the corporation (usually sufficiently empowered managers or members of the board of directors).

The importance and contribution of derivative litigation to the effectiveness and credibility of a jurisdiction's corporate governance system is indisputable. There is a positive correlation between good corporate governance practices, which include shareholders’ rights, and investors’ return on their investments. On the one hand, an overly pro-shareholder derivative scheme is vulnerable to abuse and results in unnecessary interference with company management. This may, in turn, discourage directors from entrepreneurial risk-taking and undermine enterprise efficiency. On the other hand, a complex and ineffective system of derivative litigation protects errant directors and decreases investor confidence. This article is a critical assessment of Zimbabwe's recently adopted statutory derivative remedy. The analysis focuses on five locus standi-related aspects of the new statutory derivative regime. The article highlights some major weaknesses within Zimbabwe's statutory remedy and proposes pertinent legislative amendments.

This article sets out a comparative study of the defences of compulsion and necessity in selected African nations and under the Statute of the International Criminal Court. The aim is to produce the best formulations of these defences for possible adoption by the African nations concerned.