On the Nature and Extent of State Compensation for Unlawful Administrative Action in Malawi
A Common-Law and Comparative Analysis 1. Introduction and framing of the issue I write this opinion from the standpoint of our law in Malawi, which is grounded in English common law and shaped by constitutional principles of legality, accountability, and the protection of public resources. The immediate context is the recent decision of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal in Finance Bank of Malawi Limited (in Voluntary Liquidation) v Reserve Bank of Malawi & Another (MSCA Civil Appeal No. 21 of 2016), delivered on 3 February 2026. The issue addressed here is not whether unlawful administrative action should attract judicial scrutiny. That proposition has now been conclusively settled by the Supreme Court. The issue is whether, and to what extent, a finding of unlawfulness justifies monetary compensation , particularly where the sums claimed are large, speculative, and potentially destabilising to the public fiscus. In my view, and consistent with common-law aut...