This article examines the basis for humanitarian intervention (HI) in the United Nations Charter, the African Union (AU) Charter and in a number of African sub-regional institutions. It traces the historical development of HI and argues that, while the right to HI emerged more than 100 years ago, that right also emerges from the Genocide Convention. The article argues that this treaty connects HI to the developing norm of the responsibility to protect (R2P) and examines the extent to which R2P is garnering wider support around the world. It focuses on the UN, and the various AU and sub-regional institutions and instruments that sanction HI. It assesses whether intervention can be authorized even in the absence of a UN Security Council mandate and examines the principles, application and interrelationship of R2P and HI in the African context. It traces the use of these norms in Africa, including in the various sub-regional structures, and evaluates the AU's political will and capability to deal with conflict and human rights abuse.

This article re-assesses the means available for the effective enforcement of human rights in Tanzania based on the valid assumption that the proclamation of human rights in legal instruments, be they at the domestic or international level, is meaningless without the entrenchment of effective enforcement procedures. Particular attention is directed towards the re-examination of the capacity and ability of the courts to meet the challenges posed by human rights and political discourses in their ongoing transformation. The issue is whether they can be said to be adequately providing effective avenues for the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights.

Nigerian conveyancers routinely resort to powers of attorney and agreements to sell (estate contracts) as tools to avoid the prohibitory clauses of the Land Use Act. Judges have shown their sympathy through a strict (but beneficial) construction. Nevertheless, the current system exacerbates the risk of acquiring precarious titles in land transactions. Accordingly, this article suggests that the avoidance objective will be best achieved through the application of the principles of trust and the use of trust instruments such as express written declarations of trust.

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.

After explaining the nature and extent of the problem of child sex tourism, this article identifies the relevant instruments of international law, before discussing the legal tools available in South Africa to deal with this issue.

Competent courts in Malawi must, as courts have done in South Africa, undertake a radical path in order to enhance the common law position of distinct categories of persons. This article discusses judicial appreciation of the common law-changing function of a bill of rights and its associated values, and judicial understanding as to when such a function may be brought into play. The article examines approaches taken by courts in South Africa in determining the circumstances in which the South African Bill of Rights applies to private relationships, when private parties owe each other duties arising out of the Bill of Rights and the scope of a court's authority to amend the common law in that regard. The article projects the debate, analysis and critique of these approaches onto the Malawian legal landscape through a discussion of the tenant worker contracted on the Malawi private estate.