Unconstitutionality of “Illegitimate children” in our civil code
By Yann Gustave
Several years ago, I made an appeal via the popular talk shows for consideration to be given to the education of the population, as it relates to our constitution.
The idea was ridiculed, and I was told that people knew their rights. I was also assigned the new name of “Constitutional Police” by some. Today, I revisit our constitution in comparison with certain provisions contained in our civil code.
The St. Lucia Constitution came into existence by virtue of a Statutory Instrument of the United Kingdom, No 1901 of 1978 at the Court of Buckingham Palace on the 20th day of December, 1978. The said Constitution came into operation on 22nd February 1979, the drafting of which, was greatly influenced by the European Convention on human rights, to which the United Kingdom was a signatory and thus, applied to its dependent territories including St. Lucia, as was succinctly stated by Lord Wilberforc
Introduction
Since the creation of bitcoin by “Satoshi Nakamoto” in 2009, the number of crypto-currencies has exponentially increased to over five thousand. This is in spite of the cold reception from regulators in many jurisdictions, including Nigeria. In 2020, Nigeria generated over US$400 million worth of crypto-transactions, ranking third globally in terms of volume of crypto-currency trade. A potential implication of this trend, is the possibility of insolvency proceedings involving crypto-currencies or crypto-assets. The peculiar characteristics of crypto-assets are likely to pose unique challenges in such proceedings. This discourse examines some of these potential challenges, drawing lessons from some common law jurisdictions.
22nd December 2020
Still reeling from a humiliating defeat at the hands of Percy Raditladi at the Francistown High Court last week, Grow Mine Africa trading as Dineo Tsa Pula suffered yet another debilitating blow when its lawyers of record withdrew their legal representation mandate. Through its notice filed with the Francistown High Court on 17
th December 2020, the law firm, S Thapelo Attorneys informed the court that they had withdrawn their mandate from representing the company.
Last week, Judge Justice Bashi Moesi discharged an interim order he issued on November 9
th, 2020 calling upon Raditladi to show cause why the order sought by Grow Mine Africa should not be made final. Discharging the interim order last Friday, Justice Moesi opened his ruling with the wise words of Lord Wilberforce in the seminal case of Ebrahimi versus Westbourne Galleries Ltd & Another: “My Lords, …a limited company is more than a mere legal entity, with a personality in law of its own… ther