THE BANGALORE PRINCIPLES OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT 2002

  Constitutional Court Emblem  This is to my mind the high water mark for judicial conduct not only for judges, but for all magistrates, chairmen of tribunals [domestic or international] and practising lawyers, be they practising advocates or attorneys specifically in the R.S.A. You can download the PDF format of the entire document – google “the Bangalore principles of judicial conduct 2002” and you will find it. It is interesting...

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Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng again took flak for his recent address to Advocates for Transformation. It came in the form of a letter to Business Day by constitutional law expert, Professor George Devenish, who wrote that both the content and tone of the Chief Justice’s address – made in his official capacity – have serious implications for judicial independence,. Devenish pointed out that in his address, the Chief Justice, without mentioning names, used emotional and powerful language in relation to those who are challenging the modus operandi...

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Couple got divorced to "save" their relationship!

Can you believe this lot? This couple got a divorce in the Free State High Court to "save" their relationship. The judge was in a pickle - not even as an advocate she had something like this. What to do with this? The husband told the court it is a matter of confidence - while they are married they can always threaten divorce and that creates havoc in their relationship. Does that then mean that if they are no longer married they cannot separate?...

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Back to Prison.

Not a nice newspaper report to read. Gert Van Schalkwyk & Reinach Tiedt should go back to prison after spending about 18 months outside. You probably remember the so-called Waterkloof 4? The guys that were found guilty of murdering an unidentified man in a Pretoria park and sentenced to do time in prison. Then the mentioned two were let out on correctional supervision. Yesterday 12 June 2013 Mr Justice Fabricius delivered the court's judgment...

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REFUGEE APPEAL BOARD

Constitutional Court Emblem I appeared yesterday [10 June 2013] at the Refugee Appeal Board [RAB] on behalf of a refugee. On 6 December 2012 Mr Justice Fabricius in the matter of MAIL & GUARDIAN MEDIA v CHIPU Case number 22645/2011 declared the rules in terms of which the RAB operates, invalid from 6 December 2012.  These guys are still operating under these invalid rules. And they are oblivious of the declaration!!! The matter...

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Keys to unlock the law

I  once wrote and said that the law can be a closed book. Some one asked me if that being the case, how can it be opened? The keys to unlock the law are many and varied. It starts off with one's academic education, then experience and closely & inextricably linked to that is the lawyer doing his homework as best he can. That is why I am very proud of my law library - you look at the very heart of my practice. Those are extremely valuable...

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Oscar Pistorius: gruesome pictures

I saw this morning on the Huffington Post UK blog-site photographs of the toilet where Reeva Steenkamp was shot. If these images are in fact from that scene, there is a lot to give account about. News24 mentions that the Pistorius legal team already got onto this and requested answers from the police. Of course the police is still looking into this and we cannot expect them to come up with a cogent answer so soon - if ever! It is noteworthy that,...

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