DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 1 -- REPUTATION is a strange, invisible kind of wealth. You cannot hold it in your hand, lock it in a bank vault or insure it against theft, yet it may be the most valuable thing you own.

It walks into rooms before you do, shaping whether you are welcomed or doubted.

In Tanzania, where communities are tightly knit and news travels fast, a good name opens doors in business, marriage and society, while a damaged one shuts them.

Because words can destroy this intangible wealth, the law steps in to draw a boundary.

This boundary is the law of defamation, an area that blends common law tradition with statutory rules to balance free expression and human dignity.

Understanding this balance is no longer a lawyers luxury. ...