134 | Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal The previous Constitution thus explicitly provided for the situations where causing of death will be lawful and will not violate the right to life. It laid down that without violating the right to life provision, the State may by law provide for defences to the causing of death in circumstances where the use of force was reasonably justifiable in the circumstances— for the defence of any person from violence or for the defence of property; in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; for the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny or of dispersing an unlawful gathering; or in order to prevent the commission by that person of a criminal offence; or the death results from a lawful act of war. Section 48 of the 2013 Constitution has no such provisions. The only circumstance it provides in which the right to life does not apply is if the legislature provides for the imposition of the death penalty for the crime of murder committed in aggravating circumstances. The limitation clause, section 86 provides that the right to life may not be limited by law except to the extent allowed for in section 48, that is, for murder in aggravating circumstances. It does, however, also provide that the fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights (which includes the right to life) must be exercised reasonably and with due regard for the rights and freedoms of other persons. Implications of sections 48 and 86 Significant problems arise from the failure by the drafters of the 2013 Constitution explicitly to exempt from the right to life guarantee situations where the causing of death is reasonably justifiable under one of the defences contained in the Criminal Law Code. The best solution to overcome these problems would be to amend section 48 to incorporate these defences as exceptions to the right to life guarantee. Until this is done, the courts will have to try to find ways of dealing with cases in which the person causing death would otherwise have had a defence under the Criminal Law