Discuss any five characteristics of South African Constitution.
Answers
1. A Hybrid Legal System:
The first distinguishing feature of the South African legal system is that it is a hybrid
because it has two formal legal systems existing in harmony within the national legal
system. In other words, South Africa promotes legal pluralism.
2. Constitutional Supremacy and Bill of Rights
The second characteristic of the South African legal system is the overreaching doctrine
of constitutional supremacy and an entrenched Bill of Rights. With the demise of the
apartheid regime which sustained itself through the legal construct of parliamentary
sovereignty, the new constitutional democracy established in 1994 was founded on the
bedrock of constitutional supremacy. Constitutional supremacy is reinforced inter alia
by an entrenched Bill of Rights and a supreme specialized constitutional court.
Sitting at the apex of the judicial hierarchy, the South African Constitutional Court is
the highest court in the land. Its jurisdiction is limited to constitutional matters and issues connected with decisions on constitutional matters. The Constitutional Court is
the final court in all matters concerning the interpretation, protection and enforcement
of the constitution. Other courts below the Constitutional Court are:
The Supreme Court of Appeal;
The High Courts;
The Magistrates’ Courts; and,
Any other court established or recognized by an Act of Parliament.
The judiciary in South Africa has professional judges and not juries. The judicial
process is based on an adversarial system rather than an inquisitorial system.
3. Legal Education and the Legal Profession
The third distinguishing feature of the South African legal system relates to legal
education and the practice of law as a profession.
The Qualification of Legal Practitioners Amendment Act 78 of 1997 provides that the
LLB is the universal legal qualification for admission and enrolment to practise as an advocate or an attorney.
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