In defence of transformation under the rule of law

We may not like the way colonial powers used the law to justify their claims on entire countries, but today legal systems can be used to rectify the wrongs of the past, writes Tembeka Ngcukaitobi

16 January 2022 - 00:01 By tembeka ngcukaitobi

Original encounters with European legalism were a combination of violence, trickery and hypocrisy. A common feature for the colonial states was the use of the law to justify  territorial conquest.

One of the main British legal theorists justifying land-taking by law was John Locke, whose theories shaped modern legal thinking about land as a private commodity that can be privately owned...

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