This week in law and policy: ten open-access studies, most from African-led teams, on succession, inclusive education, climate obligations, social rights, basic income, platform transparency, gun policy, relational justice, and state necessity.
📊 This week at a glance
🌍 African-led research
Retroactive tests for testamentary capacity (whether a person was of sound mind when making a will) can override a will-maker’s autonomy and turn will-writing into de facto forced heirship, fuelling litigation.
Chinwuba argues that testamentary intention and property are shaped by the law’s conception of personhood, and that current post-mortem capacity contests subvert individual autonomy. The implication is that Nigerian and Anglo-Canadian succession law may need to rethink how personhood is defined to reduce unconstructive litigation. For African scholars, this comparative analysis shows how legal definitions of personhood directly affect property rights and family outcomes.
Community developers act as intermediaries who facilitate citizen-based monitoring (CBM) and strengthen public accountability in South Africa’s public sector, a role largely overlooked in existing scholarship.
Matlala’s study shifts focus from citizens, civil society, and government to the community-level actors who make monitoring work. The practical implication is that supporting these intermediaries could improve service delivery and accountability. For African policy, recognising and resourcing community developers may be key to making citizen monitoring effective.
Despite South Africa’s inclusive education policies, Black learners with disabilities in rural provinces remain systematically marginalised from meaningful educational opportunities.
Gongotha and Bala interrogate the disjuncture between policy promises and reality, showing that progressive frameworks like Education White Paper 6 and the National Strategy on Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support have not translated into access. The implication is that policy implementation, not just formulation, must be addressed. For African education systems, this highlights the persistent gap between constitutional ideals and rural practice.
The ICJ’s 2025 Advisory Opinion clarifies that States’ climate obligations arise not only from climate treaties, potentially turning international obligations into domestic duties for South Africa’s second Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Jegede and Chukwuemeka argue that the Opinion represents a significant development in international climate law, expanding the legal basis for state action. The implication is that South Africa’s NDC must now reflect these broader obligations. For African climate policy, this could strengthen legal arguments for more ambitious domestic climate measures.
Socio-economic rights litigation in South Africa has limits in bringing about social change for poor women, and centring their experiences is necessary to better address poverty, disadvantage, and vulnerability to violence.
Bruintjies examines the complex relationship between litigation and social change, arguing that the needs and experiences of poor women must be central. The implication is that legal strategies should be reoriented to better serve this group. For African human rights scholarship, this underscores the importance of grounding rights advocacy in the lived realities of marginalised women.
Section 27(1)(c) of South Africa’s Constitution provides a legal framework for justifying a Basic Income Grant (BIG), a foundation largely overlooked in debates focused on economic feasibility.
Mdletshe’s doctrinal analysis shifts the BIG debate from economics to constitutional law, arguing that the right to social security can ground the grant. The implication is that legal arguments could strengthen political and policy support. For African social policy, this shows how constitutional provisions can be mobilised to advance economic rights.
🔬 Global breakthroughs
The EU’s DSA Transparency Database, which collects platform content moderation decisions, has significant shortcomings that limit its effectiveness in achieving a safe, predictable, and trusted online environment.
Leijten empirically critiques the database, mapping its flaws and suggesting levers for improvement. The implication is that transparency obligations alone may not ensure accountability without better data practices. For African digital policy, this offers lessons on designing transparency mechanisms that actually work.
Permitless concealed carry laws, adopted by over 20 US states since 2015, have measurable effects on crime, according to a causal analysis.
Parker estimates the impact of these laws, which allow carrying a concealed handgun without a license or background check. The implication is that such policy changes have real consequences for public safety. For African policymakers, this provides evidence on the effects of deregulating firearm carry, though contexts differ.
Private law should, and to a significant degree already does, abide by a commitment to reciprocal respect for self-determination and substantive equality, according to a relational justice approach.
Dagan and Dorfman lay out this new approach to understanding society’s building blocks, responding to book reviews that push them to clarify. The implication is that private law can be understood as a system of relational justice. For African legal scholarship, this offers a framework for analysing private law through equality and autonomy.
Courts in various jurisdictions have accepted otherwise unconstitutional measures as lawful under the doctrine of state necessity, to preserve state institutions or protect significant parts of the legal order.
Peftinas reconstructs the doctrine as limited and temporary, drawing on case law. The implication is that this doctrine, while underexplored, has clear boundaries that courts should respect. For African constitutional law, this provides a framework for evaluating emergency powers and their limits.
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