The Mabo decision changed Australia’s concept of land ownership. It was a divisive yet important step toward recognising Indigenous rights and establishing native title.
Gough Whitlam speaks to reporters after being dismissed as prime minister.
National Archives of Australia
Australia’s Constitution is a product of foreign and domestic political influences. It has become one of the enduring aspects of Australian politics and law, for better and worse.
South Africa’s army currently has about 80,000 active personnel.
Flickr/Spc. Taryn Hagerman, US. Army Africa
South Africa’s army is in a dire situation because the government hasn’t provided sufficient funding over the past two decades, hampering its ability to fulfil its duty.
The issue before the court was whether Bob Day was disqualified from being elected because of Section 44(v) of the Constitution.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The clash over South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill is essentially about custom and constitutionalism. The government is often seen as pandering to traditional leaders’ whims.
Some Kenyan laws still in use were designed by colonialists to control the people.
Shutterstock
The idea behind much of Kenya’s legislation enacted by the colonialists was to separate whites from other races. So why are these laws still on the books?
Malcolm Turnbull has foreshadowed changes to Australia’s foreign donations laws.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
A lot more goes into the making of South Africa’s final national budget than many people realise. The process involves extensive legalities designed to ensure public oversight.
Thousands wait in line outside the social services office in Cape Town to register for grants.
EPA/Nic Bothma
The unfolding social grant payment crisis in South Africa threatens the livelihoods of a third of the country’s population.
South Africa’s celebrated state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, known as ‘The Bull Dog’, is to lead the country’s first private prosecutions unit.
Reuters/Marco Longari/Pool
Even though private prosecutions have been allowed in South African for almost 100 years, they are fairly rare and there has been only one known successful private prosecution.
Malcolm Turnbull’s donation of $1.75 million to the Liberal Party is the largest single donation in Australian political history.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The struggle for political equality has shaped Australian democracy. But it’s undermined by having a political donations system that benefits the rich at the expense of other Australians.
Demonstrators outside Terminal 5 of Chicago’s O'Hare airport on Jan. 29, 2017.
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
A constitutional scholar considers the legal arguments that could undo Trump’s executive order barring travel by residents of seven Muslim majority countries.
Bob Hawke recently renewed calls for Australia to axe state governments.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
States once used their constitutional authority to argue in defense of slavery. Today, states can make a similar argument to protect immigrants from deportation, writes a legal scholar.
Malcolm Turnbull is now more circumspect when it comes to the matter of an Australian republic.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
For Australians to vote in favour of a republic, it may require something more than just crossing out ‘governor-general’ in the Constitution and writing in ‘president’.
Taking a knee during the national anthem isn’t risk-free in the NFL.
AP Photo/Stephen Brashear, File
Americans enjoy a right to free speech, and some public figures really exercise that right. The Constitution might not protect them the way they think it does, though.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi acknowledges defeat in a constitutional referendum and announces he will resign on Dec. 5.
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia