Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Fair hearing without lawyers? The Traditional Courts Bill and the reform of traditional justice system in South Africa
Author:Iyi, John Mark
Year:2016
Periodical:Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (ISSN 2305-9931)
Volume:48
Issue:1
Pages:127-152
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:customary law
customary courts
legal pluralism
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.2015.1125188
Abstract:The Traditional Courts Bill has been introduced in the South African Parliament twice since 2008 and it has also been withdrawn twice for apparently infringing certain constitutional rights, including the right to fair hearing and legal representation. There are plans to reintroduce the Bill in Parliament soon. The author argues in this article that traditional justice system should be understood within the customary law paradigm in which it operates. If this is done, it would be found that the exclusion of legal representation in traditional courts does not necessarily imply absence of fair hearing in such proceedings. He makes some proposals for reconciling the apparent conflict between the constitutional right to fair hearing and the procedures in traditional courts by drawing on the analogy of the procedure of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. The author concludesby making policy proposals that he thinks policy-makers should address as part of the reform of traditional justice system prior to reintroducing the Traditional Courts Bill to Parliament. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
Views
Cover