UCL Institute for Human Rights

Speaker:

• Professor Cora Hoexter (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Chair:

• Professor Sir Jeffrey Jowell (Director of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, Professor Emeritus and former Dean of UCL Laws, and member of Blackstone Chambers)

About the Event:

In South Africa the rule of law plays a commanding role in adjudication despite the existence of an extensive and fully justiciable bill of rights. Although the rule of law is merely a founding value in section 1(c) of the 1996 Constitution, it is continually relied on by the courts in practice. In particular, it currently acts as a crucial safety net in cases that are not covered by the right to administrative justice (s 33), and even those that are covered by it. The more general and comparatively vague concept of the rule of law has virtually taken over in this area, to the extent that South Africa could almost do without s 33 today. The courts have also drawn on the rule of law in the context of other rights, such as the right of access to court (s 34). Professor Hoexter described and appraised this ascendancy of the rule of law, a surprising and fascinating development in South African public law.

Wavin Flag by darkroom productions, available on Flickr