In terms of the South African Constitution of 1996 there is a general need for an introduction to comparative law and one that covers what is technically known as applied comparative law; more particularly applied comparative law that involves a study of the bills of rights in other countries.

During the nineteenth century the British government and the Admiralty provided large subsidies to commercial companies to run international mail services. Concentrating on the service between Britain and South America, this book explores the economic, maritime and political aspects of the Royal Mail Lines company, which held contracts between 1851 and 1965, and reveals the impacts that a long-distance mail service had upon travel, trade, commerce and the changing patterns of global information exchange.