Human Rights and the South African Legal Order

✍ Scribed by John Dugard

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2015
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 491
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library; 1240
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

As an Advocate of the Supreme Court, John Dugard observes the South African legal order daily in operation. In this book he provides a thorough description and probing analysis of the workings of the system. He places South Africa's legal order in a comparative context, examining the climate of legal opinion, crucial judicial decisions, and their significance in relation to contemporary thought and practice in England, America, and elsewhere. He also considers South Africa's laws in the light of its history, politics, and culture.

Originally published in 1978.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Part 1: The Legal Framework
1. Introduction
South Africa and Its People
The South African Legal System
The Courts and the Legal Profession
2. Parliamentary Supremacy in South Africa
Constitutional Developments in South Africa Before Union
Union and the South Africa Act
The Struggle over the Entrenched Clauses
The Republican Constitution
3. The Rule of Law
Part 2: Human Rights and the Law
4. The Law of Apartheid
A. What Is Discrimination?
B. The Personal Status of the Individual Under Apartheid
Race Classification
Separate Facilities
Marriage and Sexual Relations
Separate Freedoms, with Special Reference to Movement
Separate Areas
Separate Education
Labor
C. The Political Institutions of Apartheid
D. Conclusions
Separate Development as a Policy of Racial Discrimination
The Role of the Law in a Racially Divided Society
5. Freedom of Person
A. The Right to Liberty
Emergency Legislation
Emergency-Type Legislation
Preventive Detention (Internment)
B. The Right to Life and the Freedom from Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The Death Penalty
Whipping
Interrogation Under the Security Laws
C. Freedom of Movement
Freedom of Movement Within South Africa
The Freedom to Leave and Return to South Africa
D. The Right to a Secure Family Life
6. Freedom of Speech, Association, and Assembly
A. Restrictions in the Interests of Internal Security and of the Maintenance of White Supremacy
Internal Security Act (previously Suppression of Communism Act)
Unlawful Organizations Act
Prohibition of Political Interference Act
Parliamentary Investigative Commissions and Affected Organizations
Civil Disobedience
Incitement to Racial Hostility
Criticism of the Government
Criticism of the Judiciary
Freedom of the Press
Freedom of Assembly and the Right to Political Protest
Censorship
B. Restrictions in the Interest of Afrikaner-Calvinist Morality
Censorship of Literary and Artistic Works
Films and Public Entertainments
Standards of Censorship
C. Conclusion
Part 3: The Political Trial
7. The Political Trial I
History of Political Trials
Composition of the Courts
Sentencing
Counsel in Political Trials
Order in Court
8. The Political Trial II
A. Problems of Procedure
Arrest
The Right to Counsel
The Right to Be Brought to Trial
The Right to Bail
Abolition of the Preparatory Examination
The Splitting of Charges
Double Jeopardy (Autrefois Acquit)
The Onus of Proof
The Compulsion of Witnesses
Miscellaneous Procedural Rules
The Substantive Definitions of Political Crimes
B. The Effect of These Changes on South African Criminal Procedure
C. Conclusion
Part 4: The Judicial Process and Human Rights
9. The Judiciary and Criticism of the Courts
The Judiciary
Criticism and Contempt of Court
10. Race, Security, and the Judges
A. Race Laws
Some Conclusions
B. Security Laws
1910-1948
1948-1959
1959-1971: The "Steyn Court"
1971-1974: The "Ogilvie Thompson Court"
1974- : The "Rumpff Court"
Conclusions
11. The Judicial Process: A Critical Assessment
Part 5: A New Approach to Law
12. A New Approach to Law
Legal Positivism in South Africa
Plea for a New Approach to Law
Bibliography
Table of Statutes
Table of Cases
Index