Cape Town — A Malawi appeals court has given pop star Madonna the right to adopt a second Malawian child.

The Nyasa Times reports from Blantyre that the Supreme Court of Appeal in Malawi handed down a ruling Friday which overturned a lower court decision preventing Madonna from adopting three-year-old Chifundo ("Mercy") James from an orphanage in southern Malawi.

In April Judge Esmie Chombo said the pop star could not be granted custody because she was single and she had not lived in the country for the minimum period prescribed by inter-country adoption laws.

But a three-judge panel comprising Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo and judges Isaac Mtambo and Duncan Tambala found that the residency rule was archaic, the Times reported.

"Chief Justice Munlo pointed out that Madonna has shown committment to help disadvantaged children in the country and that the High Court judge made an error in law for not taking into account that fact," the newspaper added.

In 2006, Madonna adopted a son, David Banda, from Malawi.