This volume provides a timely assessment on the progress made towards the achievement of a constitutional democracy in South Africa. The chapters collectively present an in-depth analysis of the development of the legal system and of the implications of the Constitution for the social configuration of power. To what extent has the vision of constitutionalism contained in the Constitution been realised? Primarily concerned with the impact of laws and the salience of their existence and enforcement for South Africans, the work highlights the importance of placing the constitutional regime in its historical, cultural, social, economic and political context. The book further recognises the importance of the South African constitutional provisions for transnational or globalised constitutionalism more broadly. It contains contributions from South African scholars, as well as European authors, bringing in new analytical angles and adding a specific comparative dimension. Through the prism of South Africa, the authors discuss the innovative character of constitutional and legal provisions in terms of both constitution-making and law-making processes and their contents. This book provides analysis that will be relevant to scholars, students and practitioners, specifically those interested in International Relations, Law, Sociology of Law, and African Studies, as well as socio-political comparative studies.

This volume provides a timely assessment on the progress made towards the achievement of a constitutional democracy in South Africa. The chapters collectively present an in-depth analysis of the development of the legal system and of the implications of the Constitution for the social configuration of power. To what extent has the vision of constitutionalism contained in the Constitution been realised? Primarily concerned with the impact of laws and the salience of their existence and enforcement for South Africans, the work highlights the importance of placing the constitutional regime in its historical, cultural, social, economic and political context. The book further recognises the importance of the South African constitutional provisions for transnational or globalised constitutionalism more broadly. It contains contributions from South African scholars, as well as European authors, bringing in new analytical angles and adding a specific comparative dimension. Through the prism of South Africa, the authors discuss the innovative character of constitutional and legal provisions in terms of both constitution-making and law-making processes and their contents. This book provides analysis that will be relevant to scholars, students and practitioners, specifically those interested in International Relations, Law, Sociology of Law, and African Studies, as well as socio-political comparative studies.

As Justice Kate O’Regan notes in the Introduction to this book: “Appointing independent, competent and trusted judges is central to ensuring the rule of law in a democracy. The last few decades have seen the establishment of judicial appointment committees in many Commonwealth countries that have diminished the power of the executive over the appointment of judges.” This book asks what lessons can be learnt from the experience of the Judicial Service Commission in South Africa and its counterparts elsewhere in the Commonwealth. It contains in-depth studies of how judges are appointed in the jurisdictions of Canada, England and Wales, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, and South Africa. It also presents the Cape Town Principles on the Role of Independent Commissions in the Selection and Appointment of Judges, which offer practical guidance both to law reformers seeking to establish new judicial appointment processes and to any existing commissions and committees wishing to review the methods by which they select judges.

The last twenty years have witnessed an extraordinary measure of globalisation of finance and trade, seen most prominently in the establishment of the World Trade Organisation and other organisations inspired by the ‘Washington Consensus’. At a national level, the exercise of those bodies’ executive and administrative authority is typically regulated by administrative law in its various guises. The rapid process of globalising economic power raises vital questions about its global regulation, in the absence of supra-national institutions and rules dedicated to this task.

This volume brings together papers given at a workshop held in Cape Town in March 2008, which was a joint venture between the New York University Law School and the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town. The papers critically explore the concept of Global Administrative Law in theory and its relevance to developing countries; the efficacy of regulatory regimes focussed on international trade and finance; and recent developments in the crucially important area of intellectual property law. The lessons learned in the process will inform intellectual debate and assist in the development of practical measures in pursuit of the good governance of global power through the law.

After more than a decade of renewal of South African administrative law in its constitutional and statutory form, the time has come to ensure implementation of the ideals enshrined in the legislation through the public administration. The papers contained in this title focus on the issue and represent the views of some of the key participants in that reform process. They provide an overview of the context in which this reform has taken place, as well as of the interaction between common law, statutory law and the constitution in this field. In addition, various perspectives on administrative justice are expounded, and implementation and training strategies are examined.