Relevance of economic crimes to public security: a Zambian case study

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Periodical article

Title:	Relevance of economic crimes to public security: a Zambian case study
Author:	Simamba, B.H.
Year:	1988
Periodical:	Lesotho Law Journal: A Journal of Law and Development
Volume:	4
Issue:	2
Pages:	171-197
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zambia
Subjects:	commercial crimes national security
Abstract:	When the Preservation of Public Security Act, Cap. 106, was enacted in Zambia in 1964, economic crimes - i.e. serious crimes committed on a large scale and likely to have a significant adverse effect on the economy, such as trafficking in (semi-)precious stones and metals, elephant tusks, or rhinoceros horns - were not in the minds of the legislators. The author argues that major crimes that take away the State's resources and diminish its ability to preserve life can nevertheless properly be regarded as falling within the scope of the Preservation of Public Security Act, bearing in mind the object of the Act (mischief rule), the intention of Parliament and the words used (literal rule), and the scheme of the Act (the golden rule). The reasoning in the divergent decisions of current case law indicates the difficult interpretational problems involved. In Rao v Attorney-General (appeal no. 24 of 1987), the Supreme Court had its first, and so far only opportunity to settle the matter once and for all. Instead, three approaches to the scope of the definition emerged. Notes, ref.