Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa - Volume 1, Issue 1, March 1968

Part 1 of 3 in a series of articles published in 1968 discussing the question of exceptional rights of transit at customary International law. South Africa is entitled to deny the transit to or from Lesotho of all persons other than Lesotho nationals who are returning home from abroad. The latter category of persons appears to form the sole exception to the general rule.

A discussion regarding some of the laws, regulations and procedures of the Republic of South Africa which may influence the direct investment of foreign capital in this country. The purpose is, however, to indicate to some extent what legal implications may be involved in the establishment of a business enterprise in the Republic of South Africa by a foreign investor.

Although the South African law of delict still regards fault as the foundation of delictual liability, the first signs of a development in which fault as a requirement for liability is dispensed with in certain circumstances can already be seen, and this cannot be ignored by legal theory and practice. As a background to the discussion of the cases of risk liability in South African law, it is proposed to give a brief exposition of the position in the Continental and Anglo-American legal systems , where this development has already reached a relatively advanced stage.

In the last twenty years Germany has experienced an increase in its foreign trade to a degree which few would have thought possible. This development has confronted practice, doctrine and the courts with a series of problems - one of the most important of which was how to determine the proper law of contract.

Certain aspects of the law of marriage of the Kwena tribe of Botswana are discussed in order to stimulate further investigation and discussion of the subject.

When looking at the civil law of the Malagasy Republic one should not lose sight of some ethnological and historical facts, for without them the picture would be incomplete.

To say that Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence, with all its constitutional implications, has turned out to be rather an unruly horse would be to make an understatement.

The two judgments of the Lesotho Court of Appeal in the case of MokoIo Ramone v Rex (sic), delivered on the 14th of April, 1 967, and the 1 8 th of September, 1967, respectively, involve a number of important and interesting questions regarding extenuating circumstances in a murder trial and the powers and practice of the Court of Appeal in appeals from decisions which negative the existence of extenuating circumstances. The questions become all the more interesting when compared with the law of the Republic of South Africa.

The transplant of a company from the body of its country of incorporation to that of another country requires intricate planning and the co-ordinated conduct of numerous bodies, including the Parliaments of both the "donor" and the "donee" countries. 11

The purpose of this section is to give readers an up-to-date picture of legal developments in the states and territories of Southern Africa.

Coutts, The Accused (S. A. Strauss); Ameller, Parliaments (G. N. Barrie); Pinc kernelle, Die Herbeiftihrung des Versicherungsfalls (W.l. van der Merwe); Menzies, Central Power in the Australian Commonwealth (G. N. Barrie); Gibson, South African Mercantile and Company Law (A. J. Copeling); Howard, Australian Criminal Law (S. A. Strauss); Meyerowitz, The Law and Practice of Administration of Estates (C. H. Smith)