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THE CONSTITUTION
UCT publications on the role
of the
Constitution in our law
One of the most important books published in the
Faculty of Law in 2011 was the second edition of
South African Constitutional Law: Bill of Rights
by
Halton Cheadle, Dennis Davis, and Fink Haysom
(LexisNexis Butterworths).
Other examples of constitutional scholarship in the
faculty include:
Dennis Davis “Tony Mathews and the Rule of Law”
in M. Carnelley and S. Hoctor (eds), Law, Order and
Liberty (2011) at 43–53 (published by the University
of KwaZulu-Natal Press);
Dennis Davis and Karl Klare, “Transformative
constitutionalism and the common and customary
law” in the 2011 South African Journal on Human
Rights, vol. 26(3): 403–509;
Hanri Mostert, “Landlessness, housing and the
rule of law” in H. Mostert and M.J. de Waal (eds),
Essays in Honour of CG van der Merwe (2011) at
73–104, (published LexisNexis);
Lee-Anne Tong “Intellectual-property rights as
human rights” in A. van der Merwe (ed.), Law
of Intellectual Property in South Africa (2011) at
435–439, published by LexisNexis;
Jaco Barnard-Naude and Pierre de Vos “The
Heteronormative Observer: the Constitutional
Court’s decision in Le Roux v Dey” in the 2011
South African Law Journal, vol128(3): 407–419;
Contributions from the Law Faculty to this
volume included “The environmental right” by
Jan Glazewski, and “Administrative justice” by
Hugh Corder.
Other examples (but not by any means pretending to be
an exhaustive list) of constitutional scholarship in the
faculty include:
Dennis Davis, “Tony Mathews and the Rule of Law”
in M. Carnelley and S. Hoctor (eds), Law, Order and
Liberty (2011) at 43–53 (published by the University
of KwaZulu-Natal Press);
Hugh Corder, “Securing the rule of law”, in M.
Carnelley and S. Hoctor (eds), Law, Order and
Liberty (2011), at 23–42;
Dennis Davis and Karl Klare, “Transformative
constitutionalism and the common and customary
law” in the 2011 South African Journal on Human
Rights, vol. 26(3): 403–509;
Hanri Mostert, “Landlessness, housing and the
rule of law” in H. Mostert and M.J. de Waal (eds),
Essays in Honour of CG van der Merwe (2011) at
73–104, (published LexisNexis);
Lee-Anne Tong, “Intellectual-property rights as
human rights” in A. van der Merwe (ed.), Law
of Intellectual Property in South Africa (2011) at
435–439, published by LexisNexis;
Jaco Barnard-Naude and Pierre de Vos, “The
Heteronormative Observer: the Constitutional
Court’s decision in Le Roux v Dey” in the 2011
South African Law Journal, vol. 128(3): 407–419;
Hugh Corder, “Appointment, discipline and removal
of judges in South Africa” in H.P. Lee (ed.),
Judiciaries in Comparative Perspective (2011), at
96–116 (Cambridge University Press);
Hugh Corder, “The Republic of South Africa”, in
D. Oliver and C. Fusaro (eds), How Constitutions
Change: A Comparative Study (2011), at 261–279
(Hart Publishing); and
Thomas Bennett, “Human rights and customary law
under the new Constitution” (2011), appearing in
Volume 75 of Transformation, at 73–80.
This will mean, argued Professor De Vos, renouncing
simple ‘grand narratives’ that threaten to reduce individuals
to mere symbols or representatives of a particular racial
or language group. Instead, South Africans should
embrace “many small micro-narratives that recognise the
individuality of each person”.
“Like Jacob Dlamini did in his book
Native Nostalgia
,
we want to tell stories that humanise our lives and
particularise our experiences; without airbrushing away
the past, and without denying the lingering effects of
ongoing racial injustice around us.”
Realising Constitutional values
Speaking a the launch of the successful fundraising
campaign that marked the 150
th
anniversary of Law at UCT
in 2008, the then Dean of Law, Professor Hugh Corder,
says that it was essential for the faculty to have the financial
and human capacity to participate in the “realisation of our
Constitutional values in a sustainable manner.” Four years
on, and the scholarship in the faculty is continuing to do
vital work in the promotion of an impartial, independent,
and fearless legal process and profession that protects and
upholds human rights in all spheres.