The rule of law is one of the “fundamental values” of our republic. Chapter 1, Section 1 (c) of the Constitution states that the Republic of South Africa is founded on the “supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law”. This means that the Constitution is the highest law in the country and no other law can conflict with it; Nor can the government do anything that violates it. And that the rule of law is as sovereign as the constitution itself. These four universal principles form a working definition of the rule of law. They have been developed according to internationally recognized norms and standards and tested and refined in consultation with a wide variety of experts around the world. It is often argued that a constitutional system is only as good as the protection it offers to those who oppose government, even from within. The rule of law is the key element of such a dispensation. Those who would like to destroy the rule of law and its enforcement body, the judiciary, should ask themselves: who should I turn to to protect myself if I am on the wrong side of political power? The rule of law thus embodies the battle cry for a fair and democratic exercise of public authority, supported by laws and fundamental rights. One of South Africa`s leading academic lawyers, Tony Mathews, refined Dicey`s (1975) definition by setting the conditions for what would be considered a “law” and insisting on the same guarantee of all fundamental rights and freedoms. The rule of law is therefore a universal benchmark for assessing government responsibility for the legal, effective, efficient and non-corrupt provision of goods and services.
It is precisely the corrupt abuse of power that has spread so widely in public government since around 2010 (under former President Jacob Zuma) that threatens the survival of the rule of law. Without the many court decisions that uphold the rule of law, the country would now find itself in a much worse situation. This seems strange, as politicians generally claim to uphold the rule of law, even if they do not respect it in practice. Their rejection therefore seems to break with one of the essential foundations of any constitutional democracy. The attractiveness of the rule of law was also increased when it was extended to socio-economic rights. This was triggered by the rapid pace of decolonization in the 1960s and pressure from newly independent Asian and African democracies. A library of WJP-supported and locally managed programs that advance the rule of law around the world. The rule of law is a permanent system of laws, institutions, norms and social commitment that ensures: absolute supremacy. of ordinary law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power.
This in turn concerns equality before the law or the equal submission of all classes to the ordinary law of the country administered by the ordinary courts; “Rule of law” in this sense excludes the idea of freeing civil servants or others from the obligation to obey the law that governs other citizens The four universal principles are developed in more detail in the following factors of the Annual Rule of Law Index® of the World Justice Project (WJP), the world`s leading source of originals. independent data on the rule of law. The latest edition of the index draws on surveys of more than 138,000 households and 4,200 lawyers and experts to measure how the rule of law is experienced and perceived around the world. Our data provides up-to-date and reliable information to policymakers, civil society organizations, academics, citizens, businesses and lawyers, among others. The index`s results have been cited by heads of state, chief justices, business leaders and officials, including media coverage in more than 190 countries around the world. Thus, the rule of law has developed considerably since its first formulation. It has responded to the struggles of those who oppose imperialism and autocratic rule around the world. The most important application of the rule of law is the principle that State authority is lawfully exercised only in accordance with laws in writing and made public.
These laws are passed and enforced in accordance with established procedural steps known as due process. The principle is supposed to be a protection against arbitrary governance, whether by a totalitarian ruler or by mob rule. Therefore, the rule of law is hostile to both dictatorship and anarchy. A resource for leading organizations, model programs, rule of law information, and more. Our people and core business contribute to advancing the rule of law The rule of law contains seven equally important principles. In this video, we look at the rule of law and the broad principles on which it is based. Dicey added a third leg to this definition, noting that in England, the rule of law was established by popular struggles led by ordinary people. This is in line with the experience of South Africans in resisting apartheid. After the Second World War, the rule of law became a battle cry for all kinds of political and social movements. The former apartheid regime argued that it adhered to the rule of law. But this was obviously not the case: although it was largely governed by law, the rules it laid down did not correspond to the generally understood concept of the rule of law.
Minister Sisulu appeared to be attacking the courts for their crucial role in upholding the rule of law. South Africa is a sovereign and democratic state based on the following values: . and (c) the primacy of the Constitution and the rule of law. Today it demands not only the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights. It also requires those who exercise public power to be accountable for their decisions and actions. They must justify any deviation from constitutional and legal mandates before an independent and impartial tribunal. The rule of law in its most basic form is the principle that no one is above the law. The rule stems from the idea that truth, and therefore law, is based on fundamental principles that can be discovered but cannot be created by an act of will. The great Marxist social historian E.P. Thompson said (1975) that the fact that the ruling class was forced to rule by law and not by abuse of power was a cultural achievement of universal importance.
Thompson was skeptical of the law, but he came to this conclusion when he examined the popular resistance of ordinary people in England in the late 1700s against unjust rules that were applied irregularly. The modern origins of the rule of law generally date back to the work of English constitutional law expert A.V. Dicey. In his Introduction to the Study of Constitutional Law (1885), he defined the rule of law as follows: Let us take a closer look at the importance of the rule of law and why it has become the privileged basis of constitutional democratic governance in the world over the past century. In its 1955 Freedom Charter and the 1988 Constitutional Guidelines, the ANC committed to exercising legally limited governmental power. For example, during the constitutional negotiations of the early 1990s, the rule of law as a founding value of the post-apartheid democratic regime enjoyed strong support. In particular, most of its laws were based on “racial” inequality and the denial of fundamental rights and freedoms for all. In this context, the decades-long demands of anti-apartheid activists in South Africa for the establishment of the rule of law are hardly surprising. In addition to calling some black judges “spiritually colonized” and “house negroes,” Sisulu challenged rhetoric about imperial impositions and the negation of African values. She emphasized the rule of law for special contempt. It is widely used by all judicial officials, especially when it comes to holding the executive and public administration accountable for the exercise of their official authority. LexisNexis South Africa has worked across Africa to consolidate and update laws in Kenya, Swaziland, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe – a total of fourteen countries.
LexisNexis has also joined the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) as part of a joint initiative with the International Bar Association and the Open Society of Southern Africa. SalC trains lawyers, supports human rights cases and implements other programmes to promote the rule of law. He denigrated (black) judges for demanding respect for the Constitution and parliamentary laws and for demanding responsibility for the exercise of public authority. But she did not propose solutions to the problem she had created. The results and rankings of the WJP`s Rule of Law Index are organized around eight main factors: restrictions on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice. Follow the links below to learn more about these factors and see the latest results for the 139 countries and jurisdictions included in the 2021 index. So what explains this latest outrageously excessive attack on the judiciary? Hugh Corder has been funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa in the past. He is a Director of Freedom under Law and a member of the Executive Committee of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution. The rule of law cannot exist without a transparent legal system, and the main components of such a system include a clear set of free laws that are easily accessible to all educated persons, strong enforcement structures and an independent judiciary. Accessible and impartial justice Justice is delivered in a timely manner by competent, ethical and independent representatives and neutrals who are accessible, adequately resourced and reflect the composition of the communities they serve.
His remarks coincided with the release of Judge Raymond Zondo`s first report on state credits. The report strongly criticises the corruption and abuse of power of the ANC and its leaders. Creating an effective and up-to-date legal referencing system for all English-speaking African countries is one of the central objectives of LexisNexis South Africa.
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