Judge's lateral thinking paves way for happy ending

With her four Malawian children, rock star Madonna must be the most famous US adopter of African babies. But there are others whose adoption of children in dire need takes place with far less hype. Most recently, the court in Uganda had to decide whether an adoption should be allowed to go ahead, even though the normal legal conditions could not all be met. In her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, legal writer Carmel Rickard explains that this latest adoption made new law in more ways than one, with the judge using a special provision to waive some of the usual requirements.

A Matter of Justice