: Researching South
African Law
By
Amanda Barratt and Pamela Snyman
Published March 2005
Amanda Barratt has been the Law Librarian
at the University of Cape Town Law Library since January 2001. She has 12 years
experience as a reference librarian, and previously headed the University's
African Studies Library. Amanda holds a B.A. (Hons.) degree in History from the
University of Cape Town, and LL.B and LL.M degrees from the University of South
Africa. Amanda is currently preparing for a PhD in intellectual property.
Pamela Snyman is a senior reference librarian
at the University of Cape Town Law
Library. She has 24 years experience as a law librarian. Pamela holds the
B.Bibl, LL.B, and LL.M degrees from the University of South Africa.
Update to an article
previously published on LLRX.com on
http://www.llrx.com/features/southafrica.htm
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Legislative and Executive
Branches
Published Decisions of South African Courts in Print Form
Printed Indexes to South African Case Law
On-Line Access to South African Case Law
Encyclopaedia and Current Awareness Service
A Selection of Useful Websites
for South African Legal Research
South African law consists of the common law (previous decisions of the
superior courts, and rules and principles discussed in the 'old Roman-Dutch
authorities') and statutory law (acts of the national and provincial
legislatures, and governmental regulations). The law is not codified and, like
English law, must be sought in court decisions and individual statutes. Since 1994,
the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa has been the supreme law.
In the mid-seventeenth century, Dutch settlers began to occupy the part
of South Africa now known as the Western Cape. In 1806, English forces defeated
the Dutch settlers and took the Cape of Good Hope as a British possession.
South African law reflects this history of successive colonial governance. The
'common law' of the country (in this context, 'common law' implies law of
non-statutory origin) is based on the 'Roman-Dutch' law of the original Dutch
settlers. This is civilian law - Roman law as interpreted by the Dutch writers
of the 17th and 18th centuries. Thus originally,
important primary sources of South African law were the treatises of authors
such as Grotius, Johannes Voet, Simon Groenewegen and Johannes van der Linden.
Law was modified or expanded by statute.
When the British took possession of the Cape in 1806 they did not impose
their substantive legal system in a formal way. Instead, it was decided that
the local Roman-Dutch law would remain in force. However, English procedural
law was adopted and this had a tendency to influence substantive provisions.
Furthermore, Roman-Dutch Law did not always cater for the requirements of the
modern society that developed during the 19th century, necessitating
legislative innovation, which was often based on English acts and interpreted
using relevant English precedent. The advocates and judges of the superior
courts were usually trained in England and tended to rely on their English
treatises. As a result of such factors, the Roman-Dutch law of the Cape Colony
was overlaid with a heavy English law influence. The Cape legal system was, in
turn, followed by the British colony in Natal, and also, in many respects, by
the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (the Transvaal) and the Oranjevrijstaat (the Orange Free State) - the
Boer Republics established by Dutch trekkers in the mid-nineteenth century.
After the South African Anglo-Boer War (1899 -1902), Britain took
control of all parts of South Africa, and in 1910, a Union of South Africa was
established with four provinces: the Cape, Natal, the Orange Free State, and
the Transvaal. Following this amalgamation, the legal systems of the four
territories were made more consistent, partly through legislative innovation,
and partly through the activities of the new Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court, the highest court country-wide in terms of the 1909 South Africa Act.
Today, many commentators regard the resulting legal system as a truly
hybrid system, a mix of English common law and civilian Roman-Dutch legal
principles. While many legal doctrines and the arrangement of the law in
general can be traced to a civilian heritage, court procedure owes much to the
common law tradition, with adversarial trial, detailed case reports (which
include dissenting judgments), and adherence to precedent.
The formal legal system is dominated by this European heritage. Of
course, most South Africans are not of European extraction. During the period
of English governance, a system of 'Native Administration' was established.
According to this policy, indigenous people could rule themselves according to
indigenous law in certain matters, for example rules of marriage and
succession. The colonial state retained exclusive jurisdiction over matters
such as serious crime. Matters of customary law were heard by chiefs and
headmen, with a right of appeal to the Native Appeal Court, staffed by
magistrates. Today, South Africa retains
a plural legal system, with customary law remaining a legal system for those
who wish to be subject to it. The rules of customary law may not, however,
conflict with the South African Constitution.
Segregationist policies were evident from earliest times, and were an
aspect of official policy during the pre-1948 era. However, 'apartheid' became
the official South African government policy following the electoral victory of
the National Party in 1948. Key
legislation creating this policy included the Population Registration Act 30 of
1950 (classifying the South African population into 'racial groups'); the Group
Areas Act 41 of 1950 (providing for the segregation of residential and other
areas) and a plethora of other acts designed to segregate every aspect of life,
including public administration, education, health services, employment,
transport and public amenities. 'Grand apartheid' divided the territory of
South Africa into separate 'states', some of which (the Transkei,
Boputhatswana, Venda and the Ciskei) were given 'independence' by the South
African government. In terms of South African law, the 'citizens' of such
states lost their South African citizenship. Residents of the TBVC states, as
well as those of other 'ethnic homelands' were not permitted to remain in 'white
South Africa' without permission, unless they qualified to do so in terms of
Act 67 of 1952 or other statutory exemptions (the 'pass laws').
As resistance to the apartheid regime intensified from the 1950's
onwards, the South African government implemented legislation giving the state
wide powers to detain, arrest, imprison and ban its opponents. Successive
states of emergency were proclaimed during the 1980's. In 1990, the government
began to negotiate with its opponents, a process that resulted in the Interim Constitution Act 200 of 1993. Democratic elections were held in 1994, and
Nelson Mandela elected as President. In 1997, the final Constitution, Act 108 of 1996, came into effect. South
Africa is a constitutional state, with a supreme constitution and a Bill of
Rights. The documentation from the Constitutional Assembly is available from
the University of Cape Town Law Faculty.
The South African Constitution Act
108 of 1996 provides for the separation of the legislative,
executive and judicial arms of government. The Constitution has elements of
federalism, and the nine provinces (Eastern Cape; Free State, Gauteng,
KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo (previously called the Northern Province), Mpumalanga,
Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape) may pass laws on certain
matters such as education, health and housing. However, the national
legislature retains its legislative power in these areas, and may override
provincial legislation in the event of a conflict. Exclusive provincial
legislative competence is reserved for less important matters such as abattoirs
and liquor licenses. The provinces have a role in drafting national legislation
through their participation in the National Council of Provinces, the second
house of Parliament.
The National Parliament is bicameral and consists of:
·
the National Assembly, elected for a 5 year term
according to a system of proportional representation, and comprising between
350 and 400 members, and
·
the National Council of Provinces, with ten
representatives from each province, who vote as a block.
The National Assembly's Parliamentary Portfolio Committees and the
National Council of Provinces' Select Committees oversee the work of the
executive organs within the sphere of their portfolios and discuss proposed
bills in these areas.
The President is the Head of State and governs with a Cabinet comprising
Ministers and Deputy Ministers who head the various national government
departments. Each province is headed by a Premier and an Executive Council.
Provided they have the capacity to do so, provinces may establish executive
departments for public administration. Thus provinces may establish provincial
departments of Education, Health, etc.
National bills usually emanate from government departments, and may
result from previous consultation through the publishing of green papers
(discussion documents) and white papers (cabinet approved policy documents).
Draft bills may be published for comment in the Government Gazette, but bills
are published as a separate series, undergoing several amendments as a result
of discussion in the portfolio committee or select committee before final
adoption.
When a bill has been passed by both houses of Parliament it goes before
the State President for assent and is then published in the Government Gazette
as an Act. Sometimes, a commencement date is proclaimed separately by the
President, also by notice in the Gazette. Specific regulations in terms of the
various acts are drawn up by the ministries concerned, and published in the
Government Gazette.
Print form:
Acts of Parliament are initially published in the official Government
Gazette. They are also republished commercially in consolidated ('as amended')
form by the major South African legal publishers, LexisNexis Butterworths and
Juta.
Government
Gazette
The official version of
an Act of Parliament is published in the Government Gazette. The Gazette is
usually the only printed source of regulations - subordinate legislation issued
by government ministers in terms of enabling statutes. Draft bills are
occasionally published in the Gazette, but bills are issued as a separate
series and obtainable from the Government Printer. The Gazette also includes
proclamations, government notices, commencement dates of statutes, price
regulation measures and industrial regulations.
Butterworths
Statutes
This is a loose-leaf
publication of consolidated acts, kept by up-to-date by annual supplements. The
set is arranged into subject 'titles' (e.g. 'agriculture', 'labour', 'water',
etc.) Within each 'title' the acts are arranged chronologically.
The index volume (vol.1) contains both an alphabetical and a
chronological table of statutes. The chronological index also lists repealed
acts, with details of the repealing legislation. Indexes at the end of each
'title' include: a subject-matter index to recent legislation, and a section
with references to decided cases which give judicial consideration to the
statute concerned.
Although the full text of regulations is not reproduced in this work,
there is a section containing references to regulations passed in terms of the
acts. These references include the regulation gazette or the government notice
number, the Government Gazette number and date of publication.
Juta
Statutes
Juta publishes an annual edition of its seven-volume set of consolidated
statutes. Juta classifies the acts into 18 groups and 105 subgroups according
to their subject matter. The full text of principal acts is given, but amending
acts appear in abbreviated form, because the amendments will have been
incorporated into the relevant principal acts. Substantive provisions in
amending acts are reproduced in full.
The index volume provides alphabetical and chronological tables of
statutes and an alphabetical index to groups and subgroups. Other indexes
include 'Legislation Judicially Considered', which lists leading cases on
particular sections of the statutes; and an index to regulations passed in
terms of the various acts, providing the Government Gazette numbers where the
regulations may be found.
Butterworths Regional Legislation Service
Loose-leaf
service containing the acts and regulations of the nine provincial governments.
Butterworths
Legislation Service
Butterworths publishes selected acts as part of its Butterworths
Legislation Service. This service is aimed at legal practitioners, and the acts
selected tend to be those which are used in everyday legal practice and which
change frequently e.g. the Magistrates Court Act, the Supreme Court Act and the
Criminal Procedure Act. This loose-leaf
service is updated quarterly, and is thus reasonably up-to-date. Unlike the
main Butterworths set of statutes, these works reproduce the full text of the
regulations and rules made in terms of the acts.
Other
Legislation Services
There are several other loose-leaf services to specific acts, often
published under the name of an individual editor. These works include both the
principal acts and the regulations made in terms of these acts, and regulations
are thus more easily accessible. There is usually editorial commentary
discussing the statutory material.
Notable examples are:
·
Blackman - Commentary on the Companies Act. - Cape
Town: Juta, 2002.
·
Budlender - Juta's New Land Law. - Cape
Town: Juta, 1998.
·
Davis - Juta's
Income Tax. - Cape Town: Juta 1999.
·
Dean - Handbook
of South African Copyright Law. - Cape Town: Juta, 1987.
·
Du Toit - Commentary on the Criminal Procedure
Act. - Cape Town: Juta, 1987.
·
Erasmus - Superior Court Practice. - Cape Town: Juta, 1994.
·
Harms - Civil Procedure in the Superior Courts. - Durban: LexisNexis Butterworths,
1990.
·
Henderson - Environmental Laws of South Africa
Cape Town: Juta, 1996.
·
Malan and Oelofse - South African Banking Legislation. - Cape Town: Juta, 1991.
·
Meskin - Henochsberg on the Companies Act. - Durban:
Butterworths, 1987.
·
Meskin - Insolvency law and its Operation in
Winding-up. - Durban: LexisNexis
Butterworths, 1990.
·
Reyburn - Competition Law of South Africa. - Durban: LexisNexis Butterworths,
2000.
·
Thompson and Benjamin - South African Labour Law. - Cape
Town: Juta Law, 1994.
On-line:
Juta and Butterworths products
The Butterworths and Juta products discussed above are available in
electronic form, and may be purchased either as stand-alone or networked
CD-ROMs, or may be accessed from the publishers' on-line services. The
electronic versions of the South African Statutes products are substantially
similar to the print versions, including all indexes, and may thus be used in the
same way. However, the electronic versions also allow a range of keyword
searching options. If the library subscribes to additional products such as the
on-line law reports, indexes such as 'legislation judicially considered' will
link directly to the full text of the cases concerned. The statutes collections
published in electronic form include the full text of many regulations.
Both publishers produce 'libraries' on particular topics, for example
Constitutional law, Labour law, Company law, etc. These electronic libraries
typically include relevant statutes, case law and commentaries, and some
include journal articles, full text electronic textbooks, and regulations.
Government
Gazette on-line
SABINET, a subscription service, has a
searchable version of the Government Gazette in full text since 1994.
Free Sites Available on
the Internet:
Polity: Policy and Law Online News
This is a privately run site, providing a wealth of government
information. The site includes the full text of legislation: Bills since 1995,
and Acts since 1993, and also provides the full text of: White Papers;
Commission reports; Discussion documents; Green papers; Notices and
Regulations; Policy documents; Reports; and Speeches.
The official website of the Parliament of South Africa
provides full text of acts passed from 1993 onwards, and the full text of bills
since 1998. The site also provides background information on Members of
Parliament and the legislative process; selected Parliamentary papers,
Parliamentary Committee reports and Hansard reports. Also see the National Council of Provinces
webpage.
The official website of the South African Government
provides full text of acts
passed since 1993, and the full text of bills since 1996. The full text of many
regulations is also reproduced here. The site provides the full text of many
speeches and policy and information documents, including white papers and green
papers. It also provides useful
background information on various aspects of the South African governmental
structure and process, as well as links to the various Government Departments
and the Provincial Governments.
The Parliamentary Monitoring Group site tracks the
activities of Parliament and the Parliamentary Select Committees, and follows
the progress of discussion papers, white papers, and bills (i.e. it provides
background information on the legislative process)
There are links to the various provincial governments from the South
African Government site. Many of the provincial governments publish provincial
legislation and official policy documents online. See, for example, Gauteng, the
Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the
Eastern Cape,
and Mpumalanga.
Full text of the Constitution of the Republic
of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 is available at <http://www.gov.za/constitution/1996/96cons.htm>.
The Southern African Legal Information Institute provides
the full text of selected acts. The World Legal Information Institute provides links to
some of the sites mentioned above, as well links to a few other South African
acts. Search under South Africa in the Worldlii catalogue.
Both LexisNexis Butterworths and Juta offer free 'legislation
watch' services, with weekly updates on new statutes and regulations at
both national and provincial level. See the publishers' websites for more
information.
South African treaties are not easy to find in full text form. The Department of Foreign Affairs provides
some information about both bilateral and multilateral treaties signed by South
Africa on its website. It does not provide the full text of the agreements, but
does provide a summary of their main provisions and gives useful background and
policy information. The site is not comprehensive. A private site, the South African Cyber Treaty
Series lists the multilateral treaties signed by South Africa and
provides ratification information. Where possible, the site links to full text
versions available on the Internet. The site does not cover bilateral
agreements. This treaty series is based primarily on the United Nations
Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General, and is arranged
according to the categories found in the United Nations Treaty Series. It
includes several additional topics for which the United Nations does not act as
depository, such as intellectual property and civil aviation. This site has not
been updated since November 2001.
The Cape Supreme Court was established in Cape Town in 1828. When circuits
round the Cape Colony became too arduous, divisions of the Court were
established in the Eastern Cape and in the Northern Cape (then known as
Griqualand West). The Natal Supreme Court was established in 1857. The first
High Court of Justice was set up in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek in 1877,
while the Orange Free State instituted a High Court in 1854.
Following the Union of South Africa in 1910, a new Supreme Court of
South Africa was formed, with provincial and local divisions in all four provinces.
A new Appellate Division in Bloemfontein heard appeals from the other divisions
of the Supreme Court and set precedent which was binding country-wide. The
'independent states' created during the apartheid era established superior
courts in their territories. In terms of the new Constitution, the existing
provincial and local divisions of the erstwhile 'Supreme Court' (including the
courts in the TBVC states) were renamed High Courts, and the Appellate Division
was re-established as the Supreme Court of Appeal.
A new superior court, the Constitutional Court,
was established to decide matters based on Constitutional provisions. The
website of the Court consists of a full text database of all Constitutional
Court cases handed down since the first hearing in 1995. Documents available
for viewing, printing or downloading include full judgments, summaries of
judgments highlighting the main questions of law decided in each case as well
as heads of argument, pleadings and documents.
Other superior courts, created in terms of separate legislation, include
the Land Claims Court and the Labour Appeal Court. In addition to these superior courts, district
and regional magistrate courts hear minor civil and criminal matters. Decisions
of lower courts are not reported. The Commission for Conciliation Mediation and
Arbitration tribunals attempt to settle employment disputes. Until 1950, the
English Privy Council was the highest court of appeal in the South African
judicial system. South Africa no longer has a jury system. Juries were finally
abolished for all courts in 1969.
A number of law reports cover the earliest South African cases, with the
Cape cases dating back to 1828. Prior to Union in 1910, law reports were
published for each of the High Courts in the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free
State and Transvaal. From 1910 onwards, decisions of the Appellate Division
were reported in addition to the separate reports for the four Provincial
Divisions. Juta, South Africa's oldest legal publisher, has published law
reports since the mid-nineteenth century. In 1947, Juta began publishing the
(amalgamated) South African Law Reports (SALR), which includes leading
judgments from all the South African superior courts as well as selected
judgments from Zimbabwe and Namibia. Specialised law reports series from Juta
include the Industrial Law Journal (since 1980), and the South African Criminal
Law Reports (since 1990). The other major South African legal publisher,
Butterworths (now LexisNexis Butterworths), launched several series of law
reports in the 1990's. These include: Butterworths Constitutional Law Reports;
Butterworths Labour Law Reports; and the All South African Law Reports (All
SA), which are modelled on the All England Law Reports and include leading
judgments from South African courts on all areas of law. All SA replaces the
Prentice Hall Weekly Law Reports, which were published from 1923 to1995.
Appeals from South African courts heard by the English Privy Council were
reported in the English Appeal Court (AC) cases, which contain some important
South African appeals. These cases have been collected and published in a
single volume: J.L. Taitz (ed.) Privy
Council Reports. - Cape Town: Juta, 1997, covering the period 1833 -
1950.
Recently, Mark Stranex, a South African advocate, has edited several
loose-leaf 'casebooks' aimed at practitioners, and containing the full text of
the most important judgments in particular areas of law. These include Judgements on Copyright (first issued
in 1993); Insolvency Judgements: A
Review: Superior Court Judgements since 1992 (2nd ed first
issued in 2000); Sureties (2nd
ed first issued in 2001); The Business
of Banking and Law (first issued in 2000); and Shipping Cases of
South Africa (first issued in 1995). Other specialised series of law
reports include Juta's South African
Tax Cases (since 1926) and the Butterworths series: Pensions Law; Arbitration Awards; and Competition
Law Reports.
Butterworths Consolidated
Index and Noter-Up to the All South African Law Reports and the South African
Law Reports -
In 2002, Butterworths published a joint index to
the South African Law Reports (covering the period since 1947) and the All
South African Law Reports (covering the period since 1996). This four volume
work includes tables of cases; a 'noter-up' (which is similar to the American
Shepards, and provides information on the subsequent history of points of law
set down in a case); indexes to judicial interpretation of legislation and legal
'words and phrases'; and a two-volume subject index.
Juta's Index and Annotations to the South African
Law Reports -
In 2002, Juta published
a consolidated work, The Index & Annotations to the South African Law
Reports covering the period from 1947 onwards. This four volume work contains
tables of all cases reported in the series since 1947; a table of Case
Annotations for both local and foreign cases referred to in South African
judgments (outlining the nature and extent of the consideration given to the
prior judgement); a table of legislation considered by the courts and a
two-volume subject index. Juta has also published various indexes to its law
reports for each division of the High Court for the period 1828-1946.
There are separate indexes for other series of law reports including the
Butterworths Index to Constitutional
Cases since 1994, which indexes cases on constitutional matters reported
in the Butterworths Constitutional Law Reports and the South African Law
Reports. This cumulative index is updated annually. Another annually cumulated
index, the Butterworths Labour Law
Reports Index covers cases reported in this series since 1994.
Also note: Uys, J.F. Fontes
juris (being the sources of the law which were noted in South African Supreme
Court judgements) - Randburg: Fontes Juris, 1994. Vols.1-5 contain South
African cases reported and noted 1828-1992;
Vol.6 has foreign cases noted 1828-1994; vols.7-8 has legal literature
noted 1828-1996 and v.9-10 are permanent supplements 1993-2000.
South African judgments are
reported in the language in which they were delivered. Historically, this was
in either of the two official languages, English and Afrikaans. Juta published
English translations of Afrikaans judgments in its South African Law Reports Translations (1969-1980) and revived
this series briefly in the mid 1990's. (1995-1997).
Commercial products
Both Juta and LexisNexis Butterworths produce electronic versions of the
post-1947 law reports outlined above (and the Appellate Division since 1910).
These are available either as CD-ROM products, or on-line from the publishers'
websites. Van Schaik Publishers has produced a CD containing judgments from the
precursor series to the South African Law Reports for the period 1828-1946. The
Butterworths Consolidated Index and Noter-up is also available in electronic
form, while Juta's Index and Annotations is included in its CD or on-line
versions of the SALR. The 'electronic libraries' produced by each publisher
(discussed above) include relevant case law.
South African cases are reported very selectively, but both Juta and
LexisNexis Butterworths provide access to cases that were considered for
publication, but did not subsequently appear in the printed law reports. LexisNexis Butterworths' Judgements Online and Juta's Daily Law Reports are subscription databases available
through the publishers' websites.
Free case law on-line
Several South African courts make their judgments available on the
Internet at no charge. These include:
The Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Appeal sites have been
revamped, and now include a sophisticated search engine. In addition to the
judgments themselves, the sites provide supporting documentation for some of
the cases including affidavits, submissions by interested parties, counsels'
heads of argument, and unreported judgments from the court a quo where
applicable.
The South African Legal Information Institute offers an
alternative search interface to judgements from the Constitutional Court, the
Supreme Court of Appeal and the Land Claims Court. The World Legal Information Institute provides links to the
sites listed above, as well links to a few other sites offering free access to
reported and unreported South African cases. Search under South Africa in the
Worldlii catalogue.
LexisNexis Butterworths currently offers a free 'Hot off the Bench' service with access to the full text of the
very newest judgments. These judgments are removed from the Hot off the Bench
site when they are incorporated into one of the subscription databases. A free Case Locater service is also available
from the LexisNexis Butterworths web page. The
locator provides a sophisticated search engine enabling you to find out where a
case has been published in any of the leading South African law reports series.
The locator also shows whether judgments have received negative or positive
treatment in subsequent cases. It is also possible to search for cases
discussing a particular piece of legislation.
Some university law schools provide very limited access to judgments
from their local high court. These include selected Cape High Court judgments from the University of Stellenbosch;
selected Eastern Cape Division
reports from Rhodes University;
and selected Free State Provincial
Division decisions from the University of the Free State.
The leading South African legal periodical is the South African Law
Journal (SALJ), which is one of the oldest law journals currently published in
English (Volume 121 in 2004). Volumes 1 - 17 (1884-1900) were published under
the title Cape Law Journal. Other important South African law journals include
Acta Juridica, Annual Survey of South
African Law; Comparative and International Law Journal of South Africa
(CILSA); De Jure; Industrial Law Journal (ILJ); the South African Journal on
Human Rights (SAJHR); South African Mercantile Law Journal (SAMLJ); the South
African Yearbook of International Law (SAYIL); the Tydskrif vir Suid Afrikaanse
Reg (
All South African legal journals are indexed by the Index to South African
Periodicals. A free version of ISAP is available from the National
Library of South Africa. This version of ISAP has a user-friendly search engine
permitting searches by article title, author, keyword, and journal title.
Results are abbreviated, showing article title, authors, keywords, date of
publication and name of the journal in which the article appeared, but omitting
abstracts and more detailed publication information such as issue and page
numbers. The full version of ISAP is commercially available through SABINET or through Bibioline/Nisc's Southern
African Studies database. HW
WILSON's Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals indexes most of the core South
African law journals listed above.
Very few South African legal journals are available in full text
on-line. Exceptions are the attorney's journal De Rebus, available free from 1998 onwards; the South African
Bar Journal, Advocate, which
provides free access to the latest issue through Juta; the Industrial Law Journal (1985+), available from Juta as part of its subscription to the Labour Law Library;
and the South African Journal on Human Rights (1985+), available from Juta as part of its subscription to the Constitutional
Library. The Centre for Applied Legal
Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, which publishes the
SAJHR, has made SAJHR content pages since 1995 available online. The Potchefstroom Electronic Law
Journal is available in full text online, along with the ESR Review.
Hein
Online has bought electronic publication rights for all journals published by
Juta, and back issues of important journals will become available through the
Hein database. The South African Law Journal and Acta Juridica have been added
to the Hein Online database, and the South African Journal on Human Rights and
the South African Journal of Criminal Justice will follow.
The contents of all major South African law journals can be researched
using the free ISAP database (discussed
above).
Legal Dictionaries
Durban: LexisNexis Butterworths, 1997
(loose-leaf updates). Full text electronic access to Claassen's dictionary is
available through the LexisNexis Butterworths subscription database.
Trilingual legal
dictionary (English-Afrikaans-Latin) 3rd ed. -
Cape Town: Juta, 1992.
2nd ed. - Cape Town: Juta, 1984.
Durban, Butterworth, 1951 (& Cumulative
supplement 1956).
Abbreviations and Citations
Kavass, Igor I. And Mary Miles Prince (eds.)
World dictionary of legal abbreviations - Buffalo: Hein, 2002
(loose-leaf updates).
London:
Bowker-Saur, 1993 (includes abbreviations for South African legal sources).
Hortors Legal Diary -
This
annual publication contains comprehensive listings and contact details for law
firms, practising attorneys, and advocates, as well as judges, court personnel
and other legal officials. Includes court calendars, fees, and other tariffs.
The publication covers all South African provinces, and has abridged information
for neighbouring states such as Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, and
Zimbabwe.
The Law of South Africa (LAWSA) is a multi-volume legal
encyclopaedia. A revised edition has
been completed, and a second edition is in progress. This work provides a
general overview of South African Law, organised by subject. Each subject entry
is written by an authority in the field and provides a concise explanation of
the applicable law with multiple references to relevant cases and legislation.
Tables of statutes, cases and indexes to each title are also provided. The set
is updated through annual cumulative supplements, but should be used together
with its companion service Current Law to ensure that the most recent legal
developments are taken into account.
Current Law, the companion service to LAWSA, consists of 12 review parts
per year noting the most recent legal developments. This reference source must
be used in conjunction with LAWSA, and this is facilitated by use of the same
subject headings that appear in the main work. The new developments may be
government notices, Parliamentary bills, regulations, or pertinent decided
cases. Relevant periodical articles are also noted. Additional useful features
include: commencement dates of statutes, giving the authoritative Government
Gazette number; a table of cases; a table of statutes and regulations; lists of
commissions of enquiry; a section on South African law books published during
the current year; and a cumulative list of research projects arranged by
subject.
Full text electronic access to both Lawsa and Current
Law is available through the LexisNexis Butterworths subscription database,
which also provides access to a number of the textbooks and practitioners' manuals
listed below.
Butterworths Forms and Precedents -
This guide to legal drafting is available as a series of loose-leaf
volumes. It is also available in electronic form as a CD or though subscription
to Butterworths' on line services.
Introduction
to South African law
Du Plessis, Lourens M. An introduction to law. 3rd ed. - Cape Town: Juta,
1999.
Hahlo, H.R. and Ellison Kahn The
South African legal system and its background. - Cape Town: Juta, 1968.
Hahlo, H.R. The Union of South
Africa: the development of its laws and constitution. - Cape Town: Juta,
1960.
Hosten, W.J. (et al.) Introduction to South African law and legal
theory. 2nd ed. - Durban: Butterworths, 1995.
Bankruptcy
Smith, Catherine Harriet The law
of insolvency. 3rd ed. - Durban: Butterworths, 1988.
Hockly, Harold Edward, Hockly's
insolvency law. 7th ed. - Cape
Town: Juta, 2002.
Meskin, P.M., Insolvency law and its operation in winding up. -
Durban: LexisNexis Butterworths, 1990 (loose-leaf updates).
Mars, Walter The law of insolvency in South Africa. 8th
ed. - Cape Town: Juta, 1988.
Commercial
and company law
Havenga, Peter, General principles of commercial law. 4th
ed. - Cape Town: Juta, 2000.
Blackman, M.S. (et al.) Commentary on the
Companies Act. - Cape Town: Juta, 2002 (loose-leaf
updates).
Henochsberg, E. Henochsberg on the Companies Act. 5th
ed. - Durban: LexisNexis Butterworths, 1994 (loose-leaf updates).
Beuthin, R.C. and S.M. Luiz, Beuthin's Basic company law. 3rd
ed. - Durban: Butterworths, 2000.
Cilliers, Hendrik and Marius Benade (ed.) Corporate law. 3rd ed. - Durban: Butterworths, 2000.
Pretorius, J.T.R. (ed) Companies Act 61 of 1973 and Close Corporations Act
69 of 1984 with regulations, tables of cases and indexes. 8th
ed. - Cape Town: Juta, 2003.
Gibson, J.T.R. South African
mercantile and company law. 8th ed. - Cape Town: Juta, 2003.
Gordon, Gerald Gordon and Getz on
the South African law of insurance. 4th ed. - Cape Town: Juta,
1993.
Brassey, Martin Competition law. - Cape Town: Juta, 2002.
Reyburn, Lawrence Competition law of South Africa. - Durban:
Butterworths, 2000 (loose-leaf updates).
Conflict
of Laws
Forsyth, C.F. Private
international law: the modern
Roman-Dutch law including the jurisdiction
of the Supreme Court. 4th ed. - Cape Town: Juta, 2004.
Constitutional
law, Administrative Law and Human Rights Law
Amien, Waheeda and Paul Farlam (eds.)
Basic human rights documents for South Africans. - Cape Town: Law, Race and
Gender Research Unit, University of Cape Town, 1998.
Baxter, Lawrence. Administrative law. - Cape Town: Juta,
1984.
Bill of Rights
compendium. - Durban: Butterworths, 1996 (loose-leaf updates).
Burns, Yvonne. Administrative law
under the 1996 constitution. 2nd ed. -Durban: LexisNexis
Butterworths, 2003.
Chaskalson, Matthew (et al.)
Constitutional law of South Africa
- Cape Town: Juta, 1996 (loose-leaf updates).
Cheadle, M.H. (et al.) South African
constitutional law: the Bill of Rights. - Durban:
Butterworths, 2002.
Currie Iain and Johan de Waal
(eds.) The New constitutional and
administrative law - Cape Town:
Juta, 2001.
Davis, Dennis Fundamental rights
in the Constitution: commentary and cases. - Cape Town: Juta, 1997.
Devenish, G.E. (et a.) Administrative law and justice
in South Africa. - Durban: Butterworths, 2001.
Devenish, G.E. A commentary on the South