South African Common Law And The Capacity Of The Supreme Constitution Essay

Civil Law: about a party bringing an action for a personal remedy of some kind.

Britain, to begin with, has no written constitution due to the country’s own constitutional structure’s stability. It remains uncodified, yet it’s legal sources stem from Acts of parliament, European Union law, equity and common law,. Therefore the varying powers of parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law will be considered against these sources.

As the anti-apartheid struggle ramped up in South Africa in the 1980s, the Kagiso Trust was formed as a NGO to support the struggle against apartheid and to distribute funds from the European Union and other donors. This was to provide the uplifting and empowerment of disadvantaged communities in South Africa through various development initiatives. At this stage, the core focus of the Kagiso Trust was on “building partnerships and collaborations to strengthen the implementation capacity of people and organisations in development”[1]. Following South Africa’s transition into democracy in 1994, the Kagiso Trust refocused its goals and efforts on education [1], which is considered a critical component in the eradication of inequality.

I did go two different courts. Southwark Crown Court which was opened in 1983 is one of those. It contains 15 courts, making it the fourth biggest court in the nation and is outlined as a genuine extortion focus. In England and Wales the crown courts additionally go about as a court of first occasion for serious criminal offences. A case, contingent upon the seriousness can take many deferent routs through the structure of the legal framework. The severe the crime, the higher the court that the trial does settled. My court visit on eighteenth and nineteenth of December 2014 was truly fundamental, keeping in mind the end goal to accomplish a more prominent useful understanding of the different angles and structural type of legitimate framework. A percentage of the procedures that they take after are indeed regulations of Act of Parliament, the lion 's share of which are a piece of the Court Procedures Act 2004.

Will Australia become a republic in the next twenty years? This is a difficult question to speculate on. The main area of law governing this issue is section 128 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (U.K). Other issues in this debate are regarding appointment, termination and the powers to be awarded to the proposed Head of State, and the impact the change will have on the States. Examining the history of Australian Legislative powers, and reasons why Australians would want to change, is also useful when speculating on this issue.

The Europeans deeply encouraged the African peasants to grow cash crops, giving them the option to be employed by a European corporation. In an effort to enforce such cash crop principles, the European administrators possessed land ordinances that could introduce major fines or punishment into the peasant’s life. The colonial establishments were soon maintained all over the continent of Africa. Taxation was used to make a profit off the cash crop and it was also used as a method of sustaining the colonial administration. A council of European law-making elitists harnessed the ability to make laws and to supervise the colonies. Labor within the colonial economy was present at all levels with prescribed minimum wage, no matter the physical ability. The image maintained by the European administrators was an extremely censored image of what truly occurred in the African colonies. The realities of the harsh working conditions were maintained within the realms allowed by the law-making elitists.

Equity has been described as a ‘mysterious creature’ that lies distinctly alongside the common law. In considering the statement, there is an almost linear reversal in which the remedies in equity procure a type of right not necessarily available in the common law. This peculiar jurisdiction has created consistent controversy especially in regards to the fusion of the common law and equity. To understand further, this essay will consider the relationship between equity and the common law. The development of equity alongside the common law through its history and intention, and application in case law will be imperative in the discussion of the statement. In conjunction with an analysis of fusion, it will become apparent that equitable damages were enlivened, separate to, in unfair circumstances where no rights/damages existed within the common law. In trying to tread the murky waters of the distinction yet the procedural fusion of equity and common law, the contention of this essay becomes apparent. Effectively, this essay aims to highlight that the history, intention, application and fusion fallacies regarding equity, all which point to an assertion that rights in equity are indeed the product of its remedies. Whether they are merely ‘two streams of jurisdiction, though they run in the same channel, run side by side and do not mingle their waters’, is yet to be seen.

Parliamentary sovereignty, a core principle of the UK's constitution, essentially states that the Parliament is the ultimate legal authority, which possesses the power to create, modify or end any law. The judiciary cannot question its legislative competence, and a Parliament is not bound by former legislative provisions of earlier Parliaments. The ‘rule of law’ on the other hand, is a constitutional doctrine which primarily governs the operation of the legal system and the manner in which the powers of the state are exercised. However, since the Parliament is capable of making any law whatsoever, the concept of the rule of law poses a contradiction to the principle of parliamentary supremacy, entailing that Parliament is not bound by the

The legal-formalist belief in the capacity of legal rules to determine the outcomes to legal disputes without having recourse to the judge’s political beliefs or sense of fairness has been severely criticised by, amongst others, legal realists and critical legal studies scholars. This assignment will firstly address what legal formalism entails, following which the criticisms of legal formalism will be discussed and lastly whether legal formalism can impede the transformative ideas of the Constitution. All of the above will be analysed to determine the role of legal formalism today.

Around 1652, the Dutch East India Company created a settlement on the cape, leading to several other indigenous peoples settling in the area as well . This tactic nearly parallels with the colonization beginning throughout the rest of the world. White supremacy gradually took over South Africa as more and more of them colonized the country, and worked their way into government positions. The English pushed the natives out and eventually did not care about race, merely about the money that came from labor . The Land Act of 1913, was believed to be the initial beginning of the apartheid laws. This act initiated by white supremacists marked the first major downfall of segregation for the colored and Indian peoples of South Africa. The Afrikans were essentially “divided into nine nations” and approximately 93% of the land was reserved for the white people. 2/3 of the population of South Africa at the time was considered African, or native people, and these people were all banned from “freely buying land”, making conditions very harsh, and malnutrition was extremely common . Urbanization occurred with white people in power simply increasing the segregation between races. Africans continued to live and work in absolutely terrible conditions. They often resided in the outskirts of cities in derisory housing, with poor sanitation, were lucky to have a bit of electricity, and had awful people to manage their workplace. The

The Supreme Court has had many different places where it was located over the years. There has been a struggle to find a permanent home for the most powerful court of law. At first, the meetings were in the Merchant Exchange Building in New York City. The court then followed the nation's capitol to Philadelphia in 1790. In 1800 the court again relocated to Washington DC. At first they spent their time meeting in various places. The place to find the Supreme Court now is in Washington DC, on First Street located in Northeast.

In the statement, it is mentioned that the great strength of the common law lies in its capacity to develop to meet the changing needs and circumstances of the society in which it functions. A case to illustrate this point would be W v Registrar of Marriages [2013] HKCFA 39 (CFA).

To what extent is it a concern that the judiciary of a country is unreflective of the diversity within that countries population?

In New Zealand we have a constitution therefore ‘person A’ is incorrect as their argument is that we do not have one. They are incorrect because New Zealand has a constitution in the sense of ‘a body of rules determining or providing procedures for determining the organisation, personnel, powers and duties of the organs of government.’ The constitution is unwritten as there is no document generally known as ‘The Constitution’ but it is found in legal documents, decisions of the courts, and in practices. In this context it makes sense for ‘person A’ to believe that New Zealand does not have a constitution as there is not a physical document of all of our constitutional arrangements set out. If you do look at their point of view that way then they are not entirely incorrect, but when incorporating all of the proper information about New Zealand’s constitution it is hard to argue that they do not have one.

Before 1994 South Africa was a country based on Apartheid rules and regulations. The Parliament was the highest legislative body and it interpreted laws as it pleased, mostly in favour of ‘white Christians’. Any other race or religion was treated in an unfair and sometimes inhumane way. These laws were mainly based on Roman-Dutch law and influenced by English law.