Constitutional shakeup for customary inheritance law

A major new judgment by Lesotho’s High Court, sitting as a Constitutional Court, has brought new hope for children disinherited by customary law because their parents weren’t married. Carmel Rickard, in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, explains that the decision is the first time that the courts have explored the impact of a new law on the rights of such children. The result was a stunning reversal of fortune for a young woman initially disinherited by customary law but now declared her father’s sole heir.

A Matter of Justice

Lesotho judgment