The Dignity Jurisprudence Of The Constitutional Court Of South Africa

Since the Second World War, dignity has increasingly been recognized as an important moral and legal value. Although important examples of dignity-based arguments can be found in western European and North American case law and legal theory, the dignity jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of South African is widely considered to be the most sweeping in the world. In part, this is related to the unique provisions of the South African Constitution in areas such as socioeconomic rights and allowing dignity to be taken into the sphere of economic justice as well as that of human rights. This book brings together the first sixteen years of constitutional jurisprudence addressing the meaning, role, and reach of dignity in the law of South Africa as a multiracial democracy. The case law is coupled with analysis from a range of selected contributors. The book will therefore be a crucial source for anyone seeking to evaluate dignity, whether in law or in human life more broadly.

This book pays tribute to the constitutional jurisprudence of Justice Laurie Ackermann, now retired from the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The collection of essays focuses specifically on the relationship between dignity and freedom in the post-apartheid legal order. The book provides a critical perspective on a central theme in South Africa's developing constitutional law and also brings into view emerging answers to fundamental jurisprudential questions of growing international prominence.

Do you possess 'freedom'-the will to do as you choose-as an individual, as a participant in social affairs or as a citizen in the political realm? Well, no. Not really. At least not as most of us understand a term loaded down with metaphysical baggage. Don't worry. You've got something better: a neurological system capable of carrying out the most complex analytical and computational tasks; membership in innumerable communities that provide you with huge stores of knowledge and wisdom; and a politico-constitutional order that ought to provide the material and the immaterial conditions that will enable you to pursue a life worth valuing. Drop the simplistic folk-psychology of unfettered freedom, whilst holding on to intentionality, and you might be inclined to adopt a set of social practices and political arrangements that enhance the chances that you and your compatriots will flourish. As many recent studies of consciousness reveal our neurological systems are complex feedback mechanisms designed to create myriad for trial and error and (if you survive) the production of new stores of knowledge. Individuals-comprised of numerous radically heterogeneous, naturally and socially determined selves-are always experimenting, attempting to divine through reflection and action, what 'works' best: even when 'best' means fully embracing who we already are. Choice architects, those persons charged with constructing the environments within which we operate daily, should (if responsible) regularly run experiments that attempt to eliminate biases, and ultimately, deliver norms that nudge us away from negative defaults toward more optimal ends. A constitutional democracy, made up of millions of radically heterogeneous, densely populated individuals, constantly strives to determine what works best for most of its many constituents. Because South Africa's Constitution states (at an extremely high level of generality) only some of the norms that govern our lives, it remains for citizens, representatives and judges to create doctrines and institutions that serve its capaciously framed ends best. After canvassing the relevant literature in neuroscience, empirical philosophy, behavioural psychology, social capital theory, development economics, and emergent experimental governance, this work suggests that manifold experiments in living that fall within the accepted parameters of our shared constitutional norms are likely, over time, to produce more optimal ways of being that can be replicated by other members of our polity. Our reflexive stance toward best practices-a linchpin of this book's take on experimental governance-when inextricably linked to a commitment to flourishing and to the expansion of individual capabilities, should cause us to alter the content of the fundamental norms that shape our lives and bind us to one another. A political order founded upon experimental constitutionalism and flourishing promises an egalitarian pluralist reformation of South African society. The book spins out its novel thesis against the concrete backdrop of political arrangements and judicial doctrines that have emerged during the first 20 years of our truly vibrant constitutional democracy. Its trenchant analysis of political institutions and constitutional case law shows us how far we have come, and how far we still have to go.

Post-apartheid South Africa has yielded enlightened judicial decisions in contrast to the limited interpretation of human rights in Ireland. The value of human dignity with its central position in international law underpins both countries’ Constitutions, but has left a more striking mark in South Africa. There it has impacted significantly on punishment for crimes, family life, children’s rights, defamation, sexual violence investigations, substantive equality and socio-economic rights. Practical guidance can be gleaned from South Africa to revitalise Irish jurisprudence. While its focus is on South Africa and Ireland, this book draws on the experience of many countries and regions.

About this Publication: Human Dignity: Lodestar for Equality in South Africa provides an in-depth analysis of human dignity and its relationship to equality in South African law. The author argues that human dignity is the attributive key that unlocks the constitutional meaning of equality and unfair discrimination. Equality cannot be usefully debated without first asking the vital question 'Equality of what?' The answer, it is contended, must be 'human dignity'. The philosophical and Abrahamic religious roots of these constitutional concepts of dignity and equality are investigated, then further explored and illustrated in the comparative context of South African, German and Canadian constitutional jurisprudence. Clashes and tensions between rights inevitably occur when the equality and non-discrimination rights of a Bill of Rights are applied horizontally, that is between subjects of the state themselves. The human dignity of the contestants plays a vital role in resolving such tensions and conflicts. Human dignity moreover has a determining function when applying constitutionally mandated restitutionary (compensatory) equality and when determining what the legitimate extent and duration of such restitution is. These issues are also considered in a comparative constitutional context. Peer Reviews: 'Retired Justice Laurie Ackermann was one of the giants of the "Mandela Constitutional Court" appointed in 1994. His new book on human dignity matches the weight and the profundity of his judicial writing on the subject. It is an authoritative, lawyerly and commanding exposition of the value that is the key to South Africa's constitutional future-the dignity of all its peoples.' Justice Edwin Cameron, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa 'In this work, the claim that it is the inherent dignity and worth of every human person that must inform the interpretation and enforcement of the constitutional right to equality is backed up, inter alia, by a useful exposition of the Kantian concept of dignity and an illuminating and context-sensitive engagement with comparative constitutional law. The author's argument is systematically developed within a range of contexts, including anti-discrimination law, disputes over the scope and limits of measures designed to remedy past injustices, and conflicts over the appropriate balance between equality and freedom in cases involving the horizontal application of the Bill of Rights. Throughout, the author presents a well-argued and robust defence of a constitutional vision which places the dignity of the individual at the heart of the Constitution's transformative project. This is an important contribution which is certain to stimulate further analysis and debate.' - Prof Henk Botha, University of Stellenbosch Law Faculty 'The most systematic, theoretically rich, and intellectually provocative treatment in the academic literature to date on the subject of human dignity in South Africa's evolving equality jurisprudence.' Prof Sandra Liebenberg, HF Oppenheimer Professor of Human Rights Law, University of Stellenbosch Law Faculty

The relation between law and revolution is one of the most pressing questions of our time. As one country after another has faced the challenge that comes with the revolutionary overthrow of past dictatorships, how one reconstructs a new government is a burning issue. South Africa, after a long and bloody armed struggle and a series of militant uprisings, negotiated a settlement for a new government and remains an important example of what a substantive revolution might look like. The essays collected in this book address both the broader question of law and revolution and some of the specific issues of transformation in South Africa.

This book brings together the uBuntu jurisprudence of South Africa, as well as the most cutting-edge critical essays about South African jurisprudence on uBuntu. Can indigenous values be rendered compatible with a modern legal system? This book raises some of the most pressing questions in cultural, political, and legal theory.

Since the Second World War, dignity has increasingly been recognized as an important moral and legal value. Although important examples of dignity-based arguments can be found in western European and North American case law and legal theory, the dignity jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of South Africa is widely considered to be the most sweeping in the world. This book brings together the first sixteen years of constitutional jurisprudence addressing the meaning, role, and reach of dignity in the law of South Africa as a multiracial democracy.