The WTO and its forerunner GATT are products of immediate post World War II diplomacy brought about by the demand for the economic reconstruction of war-torn Western Europe. Protectionist attitudes of nations during the pre-war era and other economic misjudgments were partly blamed for the outbreak pf the war. The emergent system was therefore one dominated by liberal economic thought. The system essentially prohibits the use of restrictions on imports other than tariffs, and then provides for negotiation of reduced tariff levels. Central to this system is the principle of "nondiscrimination" embodied in the twin tenets of the "most-favoured-nation"(l1FN) and "national treatment" principles.

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On 10 March 1995, Canadian fisheries authorities boarded and arrested the Spanish fishing vessel, Estai, outside the Canadian 200 mile Exclusive Fishing Zone on the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland alleging that the vessel was fishing in breach of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) conservation and management measures. This action served to focus world attention on a dispute that had its origins in the failure of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ("the 1982 Convention") to implement an effective conservation and management regime for fish stocks on the high seas, particularly with respect to fish stocks that straddle the EEZ of Coastal states.

In South Africa the criminal justice system is primarily controlled by the Criminal Procedure Act1 and its application in the criminal process. The introduction of a justiciable Bill of Rights2 on 27 April 19943 ushered South Africa into a new legal and constitutional dispensation, which in tum affected the criminal justice system profoundly. In fact the criminal process has undergone an intense metamorphosis as a result of the introduction of the Bill of Rights. Witnesses and victims of crime have not escaped the impact of the Constitution on the criminal justice system. Their rightful place in the criminal justice process is the subject of this thesis.

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The public procurement process in South Africa is governed by a robust regime of laws which includes the Public Finance Management Act1 (PFMA), the Preferential Public Procurement Framework Act2 (PPPFA), the related treasury regulations and a host of internal policies formulated by the various government departments and certain organs of state to deal with aspects of the procurement process which may be unique to those particular departments or organs. In addition to this, the South African courts have also emerged as key role players in the field of South African public procurement law, as they regularly interpret and rule on contentious legal issues which emerge during the procurement process - a natural consequence of the fact that the role and operation of the procurement law regime continue to evolve as government makes use of public procurement to develop infrastructure in South Africa. The courts' involvement in the development of procurement and administrative law in so far as it relates to procurement is particularly evident where the procurement process relates to large-scale infrastructure projects in fields such as transport and energy. Procurement for the purposes of the development of large infrastructure tends to involve a multitude of administrative processes and decisions which are interrelated and which increasingly demand complex and nuanced responsibilities and considerations for government decision-makers to take into account. As a result of this increasingly intricate matrix of responsibilities and considerations, it is very often the case that the procurement of large infrastructure takes place over extended periods of time and, notwithstanding the robust regime of laws which govern public procurement, the South African public procurement system remains plagued by problems such as unnecessary tenders, over billing, false-billing, poor demand management, scope-creep, unjustifiable escalating costs and the unfortunately ever-present element of corruption. The direct result of these mounting problems is that the South African government is presently faced with a substantial amount of legal challenges to its procurement processes - these challenges are launched by a host of interested parties which range from unsuccessful bidders to, amongst others, civil society organisations and the communities affected by the procurement of the infrastructure. In addition, the intricate nature of the procurement process for large infrastructure and the time it takes to conclude the process mean that almost inevitably the legal challenges are launched before the full gamut of administrative decisions have been made and the tender finally awarded. The effects of these challenges are manifest: they create a tension between the need for government to efficiently provide much needed infrastructure in South Africa on the one hand and, on the other, the need for unlawful, unreasonable or procedurally unfair public procurement processes to be legally reviewed. This tension forms the nub of this paper - it will provide a critical analysis of the legal facets of and challenges faced by the South African government's public procurement and administrative law processes in relation to the procurement of large infrastructure and analyse some of the potential reforms to address the challenges.

Germany as well as South Africa have established Constitutional Courts. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, located in Karlsruhe (cf § 1 II BVerfGG), commenced its work in September 1951. Up to 1995 the Federal Constitutional Court heard more than 120,000 cases

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The object of urban planning is to improve the quality of life and the welfare of the community involved. However, planning policies and controls need to be embodied in legislation in order to make them applicable to the general public. Planning law has suffered from many shortcomings. It has reflected the racial bias of the past which has led to fragmented and unco-ordinated legislation. It reflects the previous Constitutional hierarchical allocation of powers which has resulted in centralised, "top down" planning with local authorities depending on Provincial government for delegated powers. It is control rather than development orientated. In order to provide a context for examining the effect of recent legislation on planning law, a brief summary of existing legislation will be set out.

Commercial interest and technological advancements (such as modern biotechnology) in plant research have led to the affirmation of sovereign and proprietary rights over plant genetic resources (PGRs). The result is an increasingly complex national regulatory system for rights in PGRs, shaped by a dense web of international law instruments regulating trade, intellectual property, food and agriculture, environmental, and human rights law. The narrative of the international trade and intellectual property instruments, buttressed by the liberal rhetoric of property, is one of long-term, sustainable, economic and social development, although the strength of this argument is increasingly challenged. This thesis adds to the body of critical literature by exploring the socio-economic impact of the current regulatory regime on a vulnerable farming community growing genetically modified cotton in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The thesis questions whether greater limitations on proprietary rights in modern biotechnology would improve matters. The outcome of the study (completed in 2009) of these vulnerable cotton farmers implicates the IP-protected technology in the destruction of many livelihoods and in the stifling of technology transfer to aid local innovation. The thesis acknowledges the negative role played by other external factors, such as low rain fall, but suggests that some seemingly external factors, such as poor agricultural policy, and falling world prices for cotton, are consequences of the prevailing regime. The thesis proposes that this regime overly prioritises private rights at too high a social cost. In order to rein in these rights the thesis argues, through the lens of the South African Constitution, for law and policy reform. On a theoretical level, the property concept, including the notion of excludability, the idea of common and public property, sovereign rights, and the public trust doctrine are explored as mechanisms within the property paradigm to aid the case for limiting proprietary rights.