ABSTRACT
The relationship between the ultimate validity of a legal system and effectiveness is well illustrated by the position in Rhodesia, as it then was, in the 1960s. Until 1965, the governance of Rhodesia was under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, with Rhodesia enjoying self-governing powers to the extent allowed under the Constitution of Rhodesia. By convention, the United Kingdom Parliament would not legislate for the colony without the express request or consent of the Rhodesian Parliament. In 1965, however, the Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Mr Ian Smith, issued a unilateral declaration of independence from the United Kingdom and asserted the full right of self-government. The response of the United Kingdom’s government was to reassert its own powers, reaffirming its right to legislate for Rhodesia in the Southern Rhodesia Act 1965 and thus overriding the convention. Between 1965 and 1979, when a constitutional conference resulted in full independence being conferred on the renamed Zimbabwe,15 there was thus doubt as to which Parliament represented sovereignty within the state of Rhodesia.
