Author: NLM Correspondent

By Professor John Harbeson At a time when European countries as well as the United States are deeply concerned about the sanctity of their borders from those seeking refugee from other war-torn or natural disaster-afflicted countries, it is timely also to consider the scale of internal displacement of citizens in their own countries. The Norway based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has done important and difficult work for many years in tracking the extent of internal displacement, country by country, particularly since many of those internally displacement come seeking refuge and resettlement in wealthier, stronger countries to the north. Internal…

The conversation around millennials is old news, right? We’ve heard everything we need to know about the work ethic of this oftentimes perplexing generation, their obsession with technology and seeming inability to form real relationships or stick to one job. When Gen Z are coming—due to account for 40% of global consumers by 2020—a new cohort of humans require our attention. These kids are more financially savvy, highly entrepreneurial and true digital natives, putting the generation that preceded them to shame in their ability to disrupt industries. That, and provide fodder for a whole new debate on the employability and purchasing…

What connects Russell’s paradox, intolerance and Battenberg cake? Or Euclid’s axiomatization of geometry and sexual harassment? The definition of marriage and lasagne? They are all sets of concepts that readers will find completely sensible and illuminating by the end of this mind-expanding book about “how people construct misleading arguments, and how we can argue back”. Eugenia Cheng, in The Art of Logic, begins by describing what logic does and doesn’t mean to a mathematician – “Maths isn’t about right and wrong, and nor are most arguments” – and goes on to demonstrate the concept of logical implication, “that ‘if’ one…

By Henry Munene Lawyer Njoroge Regeru is known more for representing clients in high-profile cases than for any literary pursuits. But, in the preface to his book, Muthamaki Waiyaki wa Hinga: The Untold Story, the Nairobi-based lawyer says his interest to dig into the history of the Kikuyu was triggered more by the urging of his family than any other considerations. Regeru is a third-generation descendant of Waiyaki wa Hinga. He says the need to celebrate the heroic deeds of Waiyaki, the first known fighter for freedom in the history of the Southern Kikuyu District, is the reason the book…

BY Oscar Okwaro This year must be the most challenging for those thoughtful consumers of our media, which has often desperately sought to paint the impression that they are free and independent, capable of balanced equilibrated coverage and objective commentary. Lately, however, the explanation of the conduct of some our media can be sought elsewhere, in the political life and situation of 5th century Greece, for politics and democracy, like philosophy, was a Greek invention. Never before, in the West, had there been a society in which ordinary men, lacking either inherited authority or divine sanction, openly debated and decided…

BY Newton Arori An order for retrial should only be made where the interests of justice require it and should not be ordered where it is likely to cause injustice to an accused person” – The Court of Appeal in Fatehali Manji v Republic (1966) EA 343. When, in a criminal case, the accused succeeds on appeal and their conviction is set aside, the appellate court may make one of two orders: either to release the accused or to order a retrial at the court where the case was first tried. Under what circumstances is a retrial ordered? While the…

What is it? It is a legal document by which a person, the testator, expresses their wishes as to how their property is to be distributed at death. It includes a name or names of the executor, to manage the estate until its final distribution. Why make one? It gives you control of how your estate will be divided on your death; by appointing an executor, you trust who will divide it. You do not have to be wealth to make a will. If you are working, for instance, you may have a superannuation, with most funds having a default…

By Kennedy Lumwamu In yet another first in Family Law, the Court of Appeal in divorce cause No. 1 of 2000, has provided direction on how to handle marital matters. The Court has rescinded a decision by the High Court which had awarded maintenance costs to a man after he parted ways with his wife in a running divorce case going back to three years ago. It allowed a petition in which the woman had contested a decision by the High Court to have her pay her former husband Sh20,000 maintenance costs per month for the rest of his life.…

By Sunday Memba To determine whether a student of law is worth his salt, teachers of law usually seek to know if the student is familiar with certain elementary cases. Jurists call them locus classicus decisions. These cases include Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100, Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company [1893] 1 QB 256 and Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1) 137 (1803). Away from these, Rylands v. Fletcher [1868] UKHL 1 stands out as one of the most celebrated decisions from the House of Lords. It is hard to imagine that the Supreme Court of Kenya can move…

BY Shadrack Muyesu The Law of Succession Act No 14 of 1972 contemplates three ways by which the property of a deceased person may pass to their beneficiaries. Property may pass by dint of a will, survivorship or otherwise, under rules of intestacy – where the deceased left no will or the will left was improper. From the foregoing, a beneficiary is only entitled to what the deceased transmits to them or what the law allows them, never mind, as in the case of a surviving spouse, their contribution to the acquisition of the property in question. In my view,…