By giving a simple verdict at the end of a case, a judge is assumed to have engaged in an act of reasoning involving a rigorous and logical analysis of previous verdicts, the provisions of statutes and the facts before him. Fact situations regularly reflect the deficiencies of society - buildings without documentation, business transactions without written contracts and debt collections and civil matters effected by the police. In all this, it is difficult for the serious thinker about law to discern a clear underlying relationship between fact and legal theory. The result has been a distinct lack of African input to legal theory. I realised even more quickly that the answer lies in the general death of law on our continent.
Corruption is alleged in the courts, and legislative provisions are ignored.
The drama of legal death is also played out each day on the streets with flagrant violations of motor traffic regulations. The primary task is to find ways of instilling stern legal values back into people, and to resurrect law from its deathbed. If successful, such a project would, in some countries, be the greatest comeback since Lazarus. Already, jurists are scraping the bottom of the barrel for new ideas. Gender, environment, human rights are the brave new areas of the law.