In a Time of Trouble

Can the law really protect human rights when they are most under siege? During much of South Africa's state of emergency, the country's highest court grimly rejected efforts to use the law to restrain emergency power. The tide of those decisions has now turned. As this important book shows, these changing judicial trends reveal both the weakness and strength of the law. Although no guarantee of liberty, law and legal traditions can help to slow the march of oppression.