Law Commons^™

Judgments Of The United States Supreme Court And The South African Constitutional Court As A Basis For A Universal Method To Resolve Conflicts Between Fundamental Rights, Daniel H. Erskine

Daniel H. Erskine

This article describes the methods utilized by the United States Supreme Court to resolve specific cases involving conflicts between federal constitutional rights, a federal constitutional right and a state constitutional or statutory right, and an international treaty right and a federal constitutional right. Consideration of particular decisions representative of the manner the Court resolves conflicts between rights in the three typologies described above, illustrates how the Court views such conflicts and the rationales employed to resolve apparent conflicting rights. The rationales used by the United States Supreme Court are compared to the South African Constitutional Court’s decisions in the Soobramoney, …

South Africa's National Credit Act: A Possible Model For The Proper Role Of Interest Rate Ceilings For Microfinance, Megan Whittaker

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This comment will discuss the current debate regarding the proper role of interest rate ceilings in microfinance and how the South African National Credit Act should serve as a model for future studies of microcredit systems in developing countries. Part II will discuss the controversy over interest rate ceilings in microfinance, setting concerns regarding the effect of ceilings on the viability of microfinance institutions against the need to protect marginalized consumers from predatory lending. Part III will analyze various alternatives to usury laws that microfinance experts have proposed, with an emphasis on supervisory and regulatory systems as the most promising …

Authorizing Subnational Constitutions In Transitional Federal States: South Africa, Democracy, And The Kwazulu- Natal Constitution, Jonathan Marshfield

Jonathan Marshfield