Since the 1990s normative theorists and legal philosophers have claimed that we are witnessing the emergence of a 'global community of law'. These scholars claim that constitutional courts, especially when interpreting bills of rights, are essentially engaged in a collective problem-solving enterprise. Informal international networking and 'inter-judicial conferencing' significantly determine judicial preferences and decisions. Most comparative politics scholars dismiss these claims, with some pointing to the lack of empirical investigation into the phenomenon. Such networking in sub-Saharan Africa has received even less attention. This paper is therefore intended as an initial plausibility probe, providing evidence for the importance of this 'global community of law' in at least one case. It focuses on some recent high-profile litigation from Botswana, and seeks to assess the relative significance of the various networks of which some High Court judges involved were part; 'global communities', international common-law networks, and informal relationships with domestic political elites.
