Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi

University of the Western Cape | uwc · Faculty of Law

Article 132(4) of Uganda’s Constitution (1995) states that the Supreme Court may generally consider its decisions binding but can depart from them when necessary. Unlike some other African constitutions, Uganda’s does not explicitly authorise the Supreme Court to review its own rulings. The drafters intended for Article 132(4) to permit only depart...

Section 29(1) of the Seychelles Evidence Act provides that a criminal conviction is admissible in civil proceedings as evidence that the person who was convicted committed the offence in question. Thus s. 29(1) partially reverses the rule in Hollington v Hewthorn. Section 29(2) of the same Act provides that ‘[i]n a trial, other than in a civil tria...

Under Article 94(4)(b) of the Constitution, ‘a member of Parliament has the right to move a private member’s bill [PMB]’. Under Article 94(4)(d), ‘the office of the Attorney-General shall afford the member moving the private member’s bill professional assistance in the drafting of the bill’. Article 93 prohibits Parliament from proceeding with a PM...

The right to a fair trial is made-up of many (sub) rights and one of these is the right to be tried by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal. According to the Human Rights Committee, this is an absolute right. This right is protected in international and regional human rights instruments. It is also provided for in the constitutions and/...

Article 21 of the Constitution of Uganda (1995) provides for the right to freedom from discrimination. Article 21(3) provides that for the purposes of Article 21, discrimination ‘means to give different treatment to different persons attributable only or mainly to their respective descriptions by sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, cree...

The Constitution of Seychelles requires courts, when interpreting the Charter of Human Rights, to take judicial notice of human rights treaties. However, a similar obligation is not imposed on courts when interpreting legislation. Before the case of The Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles v Laura Valabhji (18 December 2023), the Court of Appea...

Résumé En 1976, la Cour d’appel d’Afrique de l’Est a invoqué la présomption de mariage prévue par la common law anglaise pour reconnaître un mariage coutumier au Kenya. Dans la même décision, la Cour a également estimé qu’un mariage peut bénéficier d’une présomption d’existence fondée sur une longue cohabitation. Telle fut sa décision, alors que la...

Section 30 of the Seychelles Prisons Act provides that the sentences of all prisoners, except those sentenced to life imprisonment or convicted of drug-related offenses of an aggravated nature, can be remitted. Section 31 of the Prisons Act empowers the Superintendent of Prisons to grant a prisoner a license to be at large. Before 2021, Seychelles...

Corruption remains a problem in many countries. As a result, national and international mechanisms have been put in place to prevent or combat it. The international measures include the adoption of United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (the Palermo Convention) and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Each of t...

Articles 79(1) and (2) of the Constitution of Uganda provide that subject to the provisions of the Constitution, only Parliament or a person or body authorized by Parliament, has the power to make laws. Article 91 provides ways in which the President participates in the law-making process. I examine the Hansard of the 10th Parliament of Uganda (May...

Seychelles acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ( iccpr ) in 1992. Article 9(3) of the iccpr provides for circumstances in which an accused may be released on bail. Article 18(7) of the Constitution of Seychelles (2008) provides for the grounds on which a court may decline to release an arrested or accused person on b...

Article 10(1) of the Constitution of Namibian provides for the right to equality before the law. Article 10(2) prohibits discrimination on several grounds. The Constitution of Namibia, unlike that of South Africa (1996), does not prohibit discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation. However, unlike the Constitutions of some African countries...

According to the Seychelles Ministry of Employment, as of July 2022, twenty-five per cent of the workforce in Seychelles were migrant workers. In December 1994, Seychelles acceded to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (the Convention). Article 54(2) of the Convention pro...

Unlike the Constitutions of some African States such as Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Comoros, the Constitution of Seychelles is silent on the status of international law (both treaty law and customary international law) in the Seychelles legal system. However, Article 48 of the Constitution requires courts to, inter alia, ensure that the Chart...

Many African countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Article 16(1) of CEDAW provides for, inter alia, the right to equality in a marriage. The drafting history of Article 16 of CEDAW shows that the delegates agreed that the whole provision was applicable to women whether or not...

During the 2018–2022 process to amend the Succession Act, Muslims in Uganda requested a separate law to regulate their inheritance. However, this was rejected by the Parliamentary Committee. As a result, Muslims are governed by the Succession Act for intestate succession. This article aims to examine the legal uncertainty regarding the status of Qa...

South Africa acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) without reservations. Article 14(6) of this treaty requires South Africa to put measures in place to compensate people who have suffered miscarriages of justice (wrongful convictions). However, the right to be compensated for wrongful conviction is not provided...

Article 32(3) of the Constitution of Uganda (1995) establishes the Equal Opportunities Commission; section 14 of the Equal Opportunities Commission Act provides for the functions of the Commission. These include ensuring that the laws, policies and customs of both public and private entities are not discriminatory and do not marginalize any person...

Article274 of the Ugandan Constitution (1995) provides that laws that existed at the time of the entry into force of the Constitution 'shall be construed with such modifications, adaptations, qualifications and exceptions as may be necessary to bring it in conformity with this Constitution'. The jurisprudence from Ugandan courts shows that they hav...

Section 78 of the Correctional Services Act (the Act) empowers the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services (the minister) to grant parole to an offender serving a life sentence (lifer). Between 2004 and 2008, a court had the power to place a lifer on parole. However, this power was transferred from the court to the minister in 2008. In Walus...

Article 14(7) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 provides that “[n]o one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country”. The drafters of that provision agreed that once a person ha...

Article 14(7) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) provides that “[n]o one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country”. In human rights law, this is referred to as the right agai...

Résumé Aux Seychelles, le divorce est régi par la Partie II du Matrimonial Causes Act. Le 4 janvier 2021, le Code civil des Seychelles (le « Code civil » ) est entré en vigueur. La Partie II du Matrimonial Causes Act à été codifiée aux articles 230 à 237 du Code civil, bien que celui-ci n’abroge pas le Matrimonial Causes Act. Avant janvier 2021, la...

The Extradition Act provides for two general modes of extradition: extradition to foreign states and extradition to associated states. In both cases, a magistrate has to issue a warrant of arrest for the person-to-be-extradited to be brought before him or her to conduct an enquiry to determine whether the person should be extradited. In the case of...

1. INTRODUCTION Unlike in some African countries, such as Tanzania and Malawi, where legislation provides for marriage by repute, in Kenya a marriage by repute is a creature of courts, on the basis of a broad interpretation of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Hortensiah Wanjiku Yawe v. Public Trustees. Since its introduction in 1976, the concept o...

In 1995, the National Assembly of Seychelles passed the Employment Act. However, the 1995 Act did not establish the Employment Tribunal. It is against this background that on 8 September 2008, the Employment (Amendment) Bill, was published in the Official Gazette. The bill was debated and passed in the National Assembly on 30 September 2008. It was...

For many decades, international human rights law has recognised the danger of wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice. It is against this background that measures have been taken to prevent or combat wrongful convictions. Thus, Article14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides for the right to a fair trial as w...

Unlike in the constitutions of other African countries such as Botswana and Lesotho, where the relationship between the High Court and courts martial is stipulated, the Ugandan Constitution 1995 (the Constitution) does not deal with this relationship. The Constitution is also silent on the question of whether courts martial have jurisdiction over c...

Article 50(4) of the Constitution provides that ‘Parliament shall make laws for the enforcement of the rights and freedoms under this Chapter [the Bill of Rights].’ In January 2019, the Ugandan Parliament passed the Human Rights (Enforcement) Act to give effect to Article 50(4) of the Constitution. The Act was assented to by the president in March...

The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights does not provide for the accused’s right to be tried in his/her presence. Article 7(1)(c) of the African Charter provides that an accused has ‘the right to defence, including the right to be defended by counsel of their choice.’ Article 7(1)(c) of the African Charter should be compared to Article 14(...

Unlike in the constitutions of other African countries such as Botswana and Lesotho, where the relationship between the High Court and courts martial is stipulated, the Ugandan Constitution 1995 (the Constitution) does not deal with this relationship. The Constitution is also silent on the question of whether courts martial have jurisdiction over c...

The Seychellois Employment Tribunal was established under s 73A of the Employment Act (the Act). Section 6(3)(1) of Schedule 6 to the Act provides that ‘the Tribunal shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine employment and labour related matters’. Under the Act, employment and labour matters can be divided into two categories: civil a...

Article 137 of the Constitution of Uganda (the Constitution) provides for the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court (the Court) to interpret the Constitution and to determine whether any law or conduct—act or omission—is contrary to the Constitution. The drafting history of art 137 shows that the court’s jurisdiction to interpret the Constitutio...

Article 29(1)(a) of the Constitution of Uganda (1995) provides for the right to freedom of speech and expression, which includes freedom of the press and other media. Article 43 provides for the circumstances in which the rights in the Constitution may be limited, including the right to freedom of the press. Article 41 provides for the right of eve...

In Van Rensburg v Obiang, the High Court (Western Cape Division) awarded the plaintiff damages for the torture, unlawful arrest, and detention to which the plaintiff was subjected by the respondent’s subordinates in Equatorial Guinea. However, the court does not clearly explain how the respondent was responsible for the applicant’s torture and the...

Article 14(6) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ( iccpr ) provides for the right to compensation for wrongful conviction or miscarriage of justice. In Hong Kong, there are two compensation schemes for people who have been wrongfully convicted – the statutory scheme under Article 11(5) of the Bill of Rights Ordinance and th...

Article 21(2) of the Ugandan constitution provides that ‘a person shall not be discriminated against on the ground of sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, social or economic standing, political opinion or disability’. Article 21(3) defines discrimination to mean ‘to give different treatment to different persons attribu...

Article 24(4) of the Constitution of Kenya qualifies the right to equality “to the extent strictly necessary for the application of” Islamic law “in matters relating to personal status, marriage, divorce and inheritance”. Section 3 of the Marriage Act provides that, although spouses have equal rights during marriage and at its dissolution, “the par...

The International Society of Family Law is an independent, international, and non-political scholarly association dedicated to the study, research and discussion of family law and related disciplines. The Society's membership currently includes professors, lecturers, scholars, teachers and researchers from more than fifty different countries, offer...

Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ( iccpr ) provides that ‘[n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.’ The jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee shows that Committee members have often disagreed on the question of whether the right under Article 12(4) is reserved for c...

Jurisprudence from Mauritian courts shows that people have been convicted of offences under the Information and Communication Technologies Act. These offences have been mostly committed using mobile phones. The most common offences relate to making phone calls and sending text messages which are obscene, indecent, abusive, threatening, annoying, in...

In South Africa, persons or companies convicted of fraud or corruption or companies whose directors have been convicted are debarred from participating in bidding for government tenders. Although it is easy to establish whether or not a natural person has been convicted of an offence, because a certificate can be obtained from the South African Pol...

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic many African countries barred people, including citizens and foreign nationals, from entering or leaving their territories. This was the case although article 12(2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights provides that '[ejvery individual shall have the right to leave any country including his own,...

Although EU states use the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) for the purpose of surrendering a person who is accused of committing an offence or who has been convicted of an offence, they use extradition when dealing with countries outside the EU. However, they use surrender when dealing with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Thus, extradition is...

Article 23(6) of the Constitution of Uganda (1995) provides that an arrested person is ‘entitled’ to apply to court for bail. However, it is silent on the issue of bail pending appeal. Bail pending appeal is provided for in the Magistrates Courts Act, the Judicature Act and the Criminal Procedure Code Act. Although the Supreme Court, the highest co...

Article 23(6)(a) of the Constitution of Uganda (1995) states that an arrested person is ‘entitled’ to apply to court for bail (discretionary bail). Articles 23(b) and (c) require a court to release on bail a person who has been awaiting trial in custody for a specified number of days (mandatory bail). Jurisprudence of Ugandan courts on bail pending...

Article 23(6)(a) of the Ugandan Constitution of 1995 provides that an arrested person is entitled to apply to court for discretionary bail. If a person has been awaiting trial for a specified number of days, article 23(b) and (c) obligates a court to release him/her on mandatory bail. This contribution analyses more than one hundred judgments of th...

Customary law has been part of Ugandan law for many years. Section 2 of the Local Council Courts Act, 2006 defines "customary law" to mean "the rules of conduct established by custom and long usage having the force of law and not forming part of the common law nor formally enacted in any legislation". Ugandan courts have explained the relationship...

Case law, amongst other sources, shows that many people in Uganda are living together as husband and wife although they are not married. Unlike legislation in other African countries such as Tanzania and Malawi, in Uganda, the pieces of legislation governing marriages are silent on the issue of presumption of marriage. Likewise, unlike in Kenya and...

Article 59 of the Constitution of Uganda (1995) provides for the right to vote. Although the Constitution does not prohibit prisoners from voting, the Uganda Electoral Commission has never made arrangements for prisoners to vote. On 17 June 2020, in the case of Kalali Steven v Attorney General and the Electoral Commission, the Ugandan High Court he...

The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1969 African Union Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa have been ratified by many African States. These treaties deal with, inter alia, the principle of non-refoulement generally and the protection of asylum seekers or refugees convicted of offences....

In Uganda legislation requires witnesses to adduce direct evidence in court. However, this may not be possible in all cases and the law provides for circumstances in which hearsay may be admissible. The Evidence Act is the main piece of legislation which governs the issue evidence. In this article, the author relied on 539 cases in which the Uganda...

Customary law has been part of Ugandan law for many years. Section 2 of the Local Council Courts Act, 2006 defines “customary law” to mean “the rules of conduct established by custom and long usage having the force of law and not forming part of the common law nor formally enacted in any legislation”. Ugandan courts have explained the relationship...

Article 59 of the Constitution of Uganda (1995) provides for the right to vote. Although the Constitution does not prohibit prisoners from voting, the Uganda Electoral Commission has never made arrangements for prisoners to vote. On 17 June 2020, in the case of Kalali Steven v Attorney General and the Electoral Commission, the Ugandan High Court he...

In Uganda a company is a separate legal entity from its directors, shareholders or employees. This is called corporate personality or corporate veil. This means, inter alia, that as a general rule, the actions or omissions of a company cannot be attributed to its directors, shareholders or employees. However, case law from Uganda shows that there h...

In Seychelles, the taking of fingerprints is governed by sections 30A, 30B and 30C of the Criminal Procedure Code. Section 30B provides, inter alia, that a police officer may take a sample from a person in custody after seeking his consent and informing him of the right to refuse to give the sample (fingerprint). In Jean François Adrienne & Another...

Section 5(3)(a) of the 2007 Kenyan Employment Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on specified grounds. Likewise, article 27(4) of the 2010 Constitution also prohibits discrimination on certain grounds some of which are not included in the Employment Act. Jurisprudence dealing with discrimination matters from the Employmen...

The Seychelles Juvenile Court, the Court, was established under section 93 of the Children Act with the mandate to hear charges against children. The procedure that has to be followed by the court is laid down in sections 94–98 of the Act and the Juvenile Court Rules. The Act and the Rules have to be implemented in full compliance with the constitu...

Section 3 of the Law of Evidence Amendment Act (LEAA) governs the admissibility of hearsay evidence in South Africa. There are many cases in which the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), the Labour Court and the Labour Appeal Court (LAC) have dealt with hearsay evidence. Through these cases, one is able to identify the pr...

Electricity theft is one of the challenges with which South African government-owned power-distribution company Eskom is grappling. Eskom has lost billions of rands in annual revenue owing to electricity theft. Different strategies are in place to combat electricity theft. However, in South Africa, electricity theft is not a statutory offence. This...

Discrimination is prohibited in different provisions of the 2003 Constitution of Rwanda (the Constitution), in different pieces of legislation and in international and regional human rights treaties ratified by Rwanda. According to the 2003 Constitution, one of the fundamental principles which have to be upheld by the State is the ‘eradication of d...

In Seychelles, the general rule is that domestic courts do not have jurisdiction over offences committed abroad. However, there are exceptions to that rule and one of them relates to the offence of piracy committed on the high seas. Section 65(1) of the Seychelles Penal Code creates the offence of piracy which is committed “within Seychelles or els...

Corruption remains a challenge in all East and Southern African (Southern African Development Community) countries. In order to combat it, these countries have put in place different measures. These have included the ratification of international, regional and sub-regional anti-corruption treaties. These treaties include the United Nations Conventi...

Ghana ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in September 2000. Article 14(6) of the ICCPR provides for the right to compensation to a person who has been convicted and served a sentence and a subsequent fact shows that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice. However, before ratifying the ICCPR, Ghana include...

In Reference to the Application of Ostia Developers Ltd et al., the High Court of Cyprus dealt with the issue of whether an accused in a private prosecution has a right to access the materials of the case. The Court held that under Article 7 of Directive 2012/13/EU and section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Law, the accused did not have such a right....

Section 27(6) of the Copyright Act provides for penalties to be imposed on those convicted of infringing copyright. In terms of s 27(6), a person who infringes copyright is liable to be sentenced to a fine or to imprisonment or to both a fine and imprisonment. The Copyright Amendment Bill (which was passed by parliament in early 2019), introduces,...

In Uzani Environmental Advocacy CC v BP Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd, in the first ever private prosecution under section 33 of the National Environmental Management Act, British Petroleum (BP) was prosecuted and convicted for constructing filling stations without the necessary authorisation. The judgment deals mostly with the issue of locus standi to...

Mauritius became a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention through succession but is yet to accede to the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. It has signed but not yet ratified the OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and has not signed the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance...

The Constitution of Ghana, unlike those of other African countries such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, and South Africa is silent on the issue of the admissibility of evidence obtained through human rights violations. Jurisprudence from Ghana demonstrates that although there had been cases in which the High Court and the Court of Appeal briefly dealt with thi...

Case law from Singapore shows that one of the ways in which intellectual property rights holders have protected their rights is through private prosecutions. This is the case although the relevant pieces of legislation on patents, copyright and trade marks are silent on the issue of private prosecutions. The question of who is entitled to institute...

Human rights treaties (including Article 14(6) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ( iccpr ); Article 3 of the Protocol No. 7 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; and Article 10 of the American Convention on Human Rights) explicitly protect the right to compensation for wron...

The Constitution of Zambia prohibits discrimination in different articles and the grounds on which a person may not be discriminated against are included in two different constitutional provisions – Article 23(3) and Article 266. Apart from the Constitution, some pieces of legislation prohibit discrimination and provide for grounds against which a...

South African law provides for circumstances in which victims of crime may participate in the criminal justice system at the investigation, prosecution (trial), sentencing and parole stages. In South Africa, a prison inmate has no right to parole although the courts have held that they have a right to be considered for parole. In some cases, the vi...

International Survey of Family Law 2019 - edited by Margaret Brinig September 2019

In 1986 the Legislative Council of Hong Kong enacted the Rehabilitation of Offenders Ordinance. The purpose of the Ordinance is to help an individual convicted of a single minor offence to have his conviction spent. Once a conviction is spent, the individual is, in certain circumstances, allowed not to disclose it and the court is barred from refer...

Article 31(1) of the Constitution of Uganda provides that ‘[a] man and a woman are entitled to marry only if they are each of the age of eighteen years and above and are entitled at that age – (a) to found a family; and; (b) to equal rights at and in marriage, during marriage, and at its dissolution.’ During the making of the Ugandan constitution,...

The Family Tribunal, the Tribunal, was established by section 77 of the Children Act with the mandate to, inter alia, ‘hear and determine matters relating to the care, custody, access or maintenance’. In the execution of its mandate, the Tribunal has applied the relevant sections of the Act which deal with the question of maintenance orders. In thi...

Private prosecutions have been part of the Nigerian legal system for a long time. In 2015, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) came into force. The ACJA provides for, inter alia, circumstances in which a person may institute a private prosecution. In this article, relying on jurisprudence emanating from Nigerian courts before the ACJA...

In Singapore, as is the case with other commonwealth countries, the general rule is that once any offence has been committed, it is for the state to prosecute the alleged offender. This explains why Article 35(8) of the Constitution provides that ‘[t]he Attorney-General shall have power, exercisable at his discretion, to institute, conduct or disco...

In the 1976 case of Liswaniso v The People, the Zambian Supreme Court held that illegally obtained evidence is admissible as long as it is relevant. Since then, unsuccessful attempts have been made to convince the Supreme Court and the High Court to reconsider this position, especially when the evidence in question has been obtained in violation of...

Article 56(5) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights provides that the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights will admit individual communications only if, inter alia, they '[a]re sent after exhausting local remedies, if any, unless it is obvious that this procedure is unduly prolonged'. The African Commission has developed ri...

In 1828, legislation was enacted in South Africa to provide for the right to institute a private prosecution. Between 1828 and 1976, South African statutory law expressly provided that a victim of crime had a right to institute a private prosecution. However, this changed with the promulgation of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977. Section 7 of...

The right to a fair trial is guaranteed under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In an effort to protect this right, the European Court of Human Rights has, inter alia, set criteria to determine whether or not the admission of a confession in domestic courts violated the right to a fair trial. This jurisprudence also shows that t...

Unlike the constitutions of other African countries such as Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Namibia which expressly provide for grounds on which a person may not be discriminated against, the Constitution of Seychelles, although prohibits discrimination, does not provide for grounds on which a person may not be discriminate aga...

International Survey of Family Law 2018 - edited by Margaret Brinig September 2018

In Kenya private prosecutions are governed by different laws. These are the Criminal Procedure Code, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, the Constitution and case law developed by courts. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how courts have invoked these laws to deal with the following issues that relate to private prose...

In this article, the author deals with the question of private prosecutions in Zanzibar. The following issues are discussed: locus standi to institute a private prosecution; appeals in cases of private prosecution; the need for the private prosecutor to have a prima facie case before instituting a private prosecution; whether the DPP has to decline...

Article 3(1) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights provides that: "[t]he jurisdiction of the Court shall extend to all cases and disputes submitted to it concerning the interpretation and application of the [African] Charter, this Protocol and any ot...

Case law shows that private prosecutions have been part of Mauritian law at least since 1873. In Mauritius there are two types of private prosecutions: private prosecutions by individuals; and private prosecutions by statutory bodies. Neither the Mauritian constitution nor legislation provides for the right to institute a private prosecution. Becau...

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Commission, was established by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Charter, with the mandate to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in Africa. The right to freedom from discrimination is one of the rights provided for in the African Charter. In this...

The general rule in South Africa is that, when an offence is committed, the suspect has to be prosecuted by a public prosecutor. However, there is an exception whereby a victim of crime is permitted to institute a private prosecution if the prosecutor has declined to prosecute. South African law allows natural, but not juristic, persons to institut...

Official and unofficial reports indicate that the South African government is in the process of entering into prisoner transfer agreements or making prisoner transfer arrangements. This comes after many years of reluctance on the part of the government to sign a prisoner transfer agreement or enter into any prisoner transfer arrangement. The reason...

In 2011 Mauritius adopted the Piracy and Maritime Violence Act (the Act). The Act does not expressly state that Mauritian Courts have jurisdiction over offenses committed outside of Mauritius. In Director of Public Prosecutions v Ali Abeoulkader Mohamed & Ors, the Mauritian Supreme Court dealt with the issue of whether the Act applied to non-Maurit...