Social and territorial boundaries have been fundamental to the approaches and practices of policing bodies in South Africa for centuries, from the mounted colonial paramilitary forces of the 1800s to the 21st century professional police. Boundaries have not only been a central mechanism that the police have consistently used to control and regulate the general population, but have also been catalysts for change in terms of operational policing strategies and tactics. This has typically been the case when a threat has been ascribed to a bounded area and/or populations that reside within the confines of the boundary, or on the other side of the boundary. The nature of the such a threat is considered to be even more severe when communities within the bounded space, or on the other side of the boundary, acquire significant quantities of firearms and ammunition, as this provides such populations with the lethal technology to defy and contest the police's coercive authority and ability to conserve boundaries relating to the maintenance of order and the enforcement of laws. South Africa is a distinctly relevant case study for an examination of the relationship between boundaries and the police as for the past three and a half centuries South Africa's diverse policing history has been profoundly framed by territorial, social and political boundaries. The police and the proto-police have been at the sharp edge of the application of authority by assorted forms of government, and have often acted to safeguard the interests of economic and political elites. That is, the police and formal policing bodies have been required to subdue and suppress groups and individuals that resisted or threatened the process of state building and resource extraction. The police were also regularly deployed to protect the territorial borders of South Africa from menacing others. By means of this historical analysis of South Africa, this thesis introduces a new concept, 'police frontierism', which illuminates the nature of the relationships between the police, policing and boundaries, and can potentially be used for future case study research. It is an alternative way of conceptualising policing, one in which police work is fundamentally framed by social and territorial boundaries. Such boundaries delineate perceived safe or 'civilised' spaces from dangerous or 'uncivilised' ones. The police tend to concentrate their resources in the frontier zone immediately adjacent to the boundary in order to preserve or extend the boundary of safety and 'civilisation', and restrict, subdue or eliminate those individuals, groups or circumstances from the 'uncivilised' spaces that a government authority or elites have deemed to be a threat to order and peace. An essential dynamic of this policing approach is that the boundary and the adjoining frontier zone strongly influence police practices and behaviour in this context. In particular, territorial and social delineations amplify and distort existing police prejudices against those communities on the other side of the boundary. The police often engage in othering, where the communities of interest are viewed negatively, and are predominantly seen as agents of disorder and law breaking. This othering may lead to an intensification of aggressive police behaviour towards the targeted communities.

The propriety of awarding constitutional damages as appropriate relief in South Africa can be inferred from the discretionary ss 38 and 172(1) of the Constitution which empower the courts to ‘grant appropriate relief’ and to make ‘just and equitable orders’, respectively. These damages are claimable against the State for Bill of Rights infringements as opposed to private individuals or juristic entities. In spite of the remedy’s promise, the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court (‘CC’) has not been particularly encouraging, with clear guidance on the granting of the remedy still at large. There is a challenge of acceptance of the remedy as part of South African law, and the problem of approach and process. Unsurprisingly, the courts have sought refuge in treading with extreme circumspection, and have approached the remedy in a circumstantial and ad hoc manner. A hybrid and functional approach which is tailor-made and purpose-oriented would help do away with a formalistic approach that has stunted the growth of constitutional damages as a remedy in South African law. This would eliminate elevating form over substance, subordinating constitutional vindication to common law or statutory remedies, and subjecting constitutional rights violations to indirect as opposed to direct constitutional remedy. What must be looked at is the breach that has occurred, the ‘mischief’ that needs to be corrected, and the impact that such correction is intended to have. This would mean that there are instances where constitutional damages would remain appropriate despite the existence of a remedy in common law. This will inevitably involve departing from the archaic approach to remedies, to think in terms of a closed category of ‘tried-and-tested’ remedies. In determining quantum, the comparable common law measure of damages will often be a useful guide, but only to that extent. It is for the courts to make an award which reflects what a court considers to be fair and just under the circumstances. These are the hallmarks of a functional and pragmatic approach that South African courts and those of comparative democracies ought to adopt.

Includes bibliographical references. / The relationship between international trade and environmental management control has in recent times assumed an increasingly role in multilateral economic relations due to a number of emerging trends. Firstly, the underlying philosophy behind international trade advocates the principle of free trade because it is advantageous to the enhancement of national, regional and global welfare. Through the implementation of liberalised international trade flows in goods and services, a great deal of positive measure accrue which are geared towards the advancement of national, regional and international economic/developmental objectives. These postive benefits include the harmonisation of global trade, the development of new markets, increased specialisation, job creation, more competition and the enhancement of global efficiency. This principle is advanced by the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization.

Includes bibliographical references. / Throughout history, the boundaries between children’s rights, parental responsibility and state intervention have been regularly redrawn. At the heart of this process is the need to recognise the separate personhood of the child and the important role played by parental guidance in the proper upbringing of children. While participation rights spring from the child’s autonomy-related claims, parental guidance and state intervention arise from the child’s need for protection, at least until the child either reaches the age of consent or attains majority status. Thus, children are now seen as holders of autonomy rights who should nonetheless be protected, by parents and the state, from personal decisions that threaten other important interests. At the international level, the separate personhood of the child has been legally reinforced by the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This instrument entrenches non-discrimination, child participation rights, the best interests of the child and the right to life, survival and development as general principles of children’s rights. These principles have been largely domesticated in South African law and play an important role in determining how much autonomy and protection should be given to children. This study relies upon primary and secondary legal materials to explain whether international and domestic law strike an appropriate balance between children’s autonomy, parental responsibility and state intervention in decision-making.

Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria guarantees freedom of expression, including the right to receive and impart information. Also, the domestication of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights' makes the Charter's protections for access to information part of Nigerian law. Indeed, sections 39(3) and 45(1) of the Constitution permit restrictions on access to information, but only by 'law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society'. Unfortunately, access to information in Nigeria is heavily circumscribed by statutes that confer absolute powers on the executive to classify information to protect vague 'national security' interests inconsistently with what is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society. Underlying this problem are a colonial legacy of administrative secrecy that disdains disclosure of official information and clumsy constitutional rights provisions that accentuate security restrictions rather than the right to information. Using democratic theory as an analytical tool, this thesis advocates for the right of access to information as not just a constitutional value, but also a minimum requirement for the functioning of a democratic society. In so doing, it aims to curtail abuse of executive powers under national security laws that permit limitations on access to information. The thesis uses African human rights standards of reasonableness to evaluate how national security laws that limit access to information measure against constitutional standards of reasonableness and justifiability in a democratic society. The thesis finds that constitutional protection and jurisprudential recognition of the right of access to information in Nigeria do not comply with minimum international law requirements. The thesis ultimately suggests that limitation of access to information on grounds of national security must be in the public interest. In striking a balance between access to information and national security, it recommends a sufficient legislative description of 'national security' and clear constitutional framework for access to information, subject to restrictions only where harm to national security is demonstrably greater than access to information.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 370-417). / This dissertation examines whether the concept of communally-conserved areas provides a useful tool for bridging the current apparent impasse between South Africa’s conservation and land reform agendas.

Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis explores the impact of counter terrorism measures on human rights in Kenya and Uganda. It identifies terrorism as a global problem and reviews its common features. It recognises that the human cost of terrorism has been felt in virtually every corner of the world. It analyses the nature and scope of trends of terrorist activities in Kenya and Uganda, offers possible reasons for the increase of incidents of terror and considers the challenges in combating terrorism in these countries. The thesis outlines the fundamental freedoms that are most commonly engaged in the fight against terrorism and describes states’ obligations in respect of those rights. It recognises that a significant effect of terrorist activity is the tendency to pit security against human rights. It demonstrates that legislation intended to strengthen anti terrorism efforts raise serious concerns in relation to international and domestic human rights law. The thesis investigated one central concern: How does the implementation of counter terrorism measures impact on human rights in Kenya and Uganda? To answer this question, the study sought to investigate several related questions: In the enforcement of counter terrorism measures, is it possible for governments to play by the constraints of the rule of law? Is freedom during times of emergency as important as during peacetime? Is it possible and practical to observe art 4 of the ICCPR in the war against terrorism or should a lower threshold be established?

Equality, an ideal that like should be treated alike, lies at the heart of most national constitutions and all international human rights instruments. Despite its ancient origins, however, this principle is far from being achieved in practice. Hence, in the search for full substantive equality, critical legal scholars put forward a theory and accompanying analytical framework of intersectionality. Using South Africa as an example, this thesis examines the realisation of the constitutional promise of equality for those who have been traditionally marginalised by reason of their intersecting race and gender identities. The process of navigating this identity intersection is complicated by the cultural diversity that is a feature of South African society. The Constitution nevertheless, encourages such diversity, and goes even further to give equal recognition to the coexisting systems of common and customary law that are rooted in Western and post-colonial African cultures, respectively. It follows that a full understanding of the different legal and social contexts in which a rights claimant lives is critical to the achievement of substantive equality.

This thesis assesses the legal doctrine res ipsa loquitur ('the thing speaks for itself) in the context of delictual claims for compensation for medical negligence in South African law. The thesis accepts that the doctrine is defensible in principle: a civil court may justifiably draw an inference that a defendant's negligent conduct was a factual cause of the harm suffered in simple cases where there is uncontradicted evidence sufficient to establish a prima facie case. However, it is argued that the South Africa Appellate Division's rejection of the doctrine in the context of medical negligence in 1924 remains justified. It is sometimes thought that the doctrine would assist plaintiffs in complex medical cases by easing the difficulty of establishing a cause of action on a balance of probabilities. However, the thesis argues to the contrary that applying the doctrine in the context of medical negligence claims in South Africa is potentially unjust to claimants and defendants alike. Judgments of medical negligence cannot be made soundly without a proper appreciation of the relevant medical facts. The availability of the doctrine, in the South African context, provides a motivation for plaintiffs to advance insufficiently-prepared evidence, sometimes without the views of experts. This results in the oversimplification of complex medical realities, which increases the risk that courts may reach conclusions regarding negligence and factual causation for reasons that are unjustifiable from a medical perspective. Insufficiently-prepared evidence is also vulnerable to rebuttal by defendant-doctors on 'exotic' or inadequate grounds from a medical perspective, resulting in the unjust rejection of negligence claims. By enabling a superficial approach to deciding questions of medical negligence in the South African context, the doctrine may promote the erroneous assumption that bad medical outcomes typically result from medical wrongdoing. To make its case, the thesis draws on case studies of a variety of medical procedures and contrasts the operation of res ipsa loquitur in South Africa against English legal experience. Differences between the two systems of medical negligence cast doubt on the notion that the English approach should be transplanted to South Africa. Rather than relying on the res ipsa loquitur doctrine to bolster claims made without medical expert evidence, the South African plaintiff should instead rely on constitutional arguments, appealing to basic rights to bodily integrity and dignity, to justify the injection of a degree of flexibility into the common-law elements of a delictual claim.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis critically examines the regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the selected countries of South Africa, Kenya, Zambia and Namibia. It investigates whether a jurisprudence may be developed through the implementation of the precautionary approach. This should be done in such a manner as to enhance the credibility of their biosafety legislation, but still promote biotechnology, with a view of possible replication across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).