Page 44 - The Circle of Life
P. 44

had  to  be  washed  beforehand  and  I  often  wonder  whether  they  were  believed

               when they told their mates of the battle of the crocodile. Somehow I doubt it.

               And our arrested reptile? Well he walked into the charge office to lay a complaint

               against  his  treatment  and  apparently  the  charge  office  emptied  within  seconds
               with  policemen  standing  on  desks  and  the  counter  shouting  for  someone  to

               shoot  the  beast  and  at  the  same  time  look  around  for  a  camera  for  their
               lieutenant isn’t going to believe this tomorrow. Luckily he was not shot and soon

               re-arrested by Dog Unit members and released on the farm where he may still
               be. I don’t know if the trade-off in cattle realised for a girl should be worth more

               than one crocodile but what do I know? I want to say again the above week was
               not  normal.  Really!  You  will  not  find  wild  animals  in  the  streets.  We  killed  or

               arrested them all. You are safe."


               As  you  can  see  once  you  start  mixing  religion  or  customary  laws  with  the law
               you  are  always on tract for trouble for the two simply are not mixable to start

               off. For instance Muslim Law allows a man to have four wives if he can afford it
               and  treat  them  all  equal.  But  the  country's  law  prohibits  a  man  from  having

               more than one wife at the same time. How do you bring the two together?

               Since you cannot the law of the country, subject to the Constitution including the

               Human  Rights  Chapters  always  overrides  the  religious  law.  Thus  for  the
               purposes of this book we follow the law of the land. In other words that what is

               on  the  law  books  enabled  by  parliament  and  not  religious  laws  or  customs  or

               traditions though we touch briefly on them too.

               Where we deal with customary laws or Muslim marriage I will point it out to you

               but remember the law of the land has overriding authority. It is also necessary
               to understand the very basics of the laws of contract as you will deal with many

               contracts  during  your  life  circle.  In  fact  in  the next chapters we will look at an
               engagement  contract or letter and the so called antenuptial contract or pre-nup

               in American. It is all contracts.


               Basic contract law

               Firstly all parties involved must agree to what is stipulated in the contract. This

               is  called  consensus  in  law.  Thus  it  is  not  good  enough to read it or be read to

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