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Faculty of Law
Departments
Department of Commercial Law
Department of Private Law
Department of Public Law
Congress of Traditional Leaders, Patekile Holomisa, who
formed part of the annual Constitution Week project
organised by the DGRU. Clive Thompson, the founding
director in 1987 of the Labour Law Unit at UCT known
today as the Institute for Development and Labour Law,
presented a lunchtime seminar for the faculty as part of
the annual Rabinowitz lecture, titled
The Paradox of the
Great Workplace
.
We had one inaugural lecture in 2012. On 31 July 2012,
professor Wouter de Vos from the Department of Public
Law gave a lecture on
Is a Class Action a ‘Classy Act’ to
implement outside the Ambit of the Constitution?
I am also very pleased to report that we have four
authored books, written respectively by professors Hanri
Mostert and Clifford Shearing, Ms Emma Witbooi, and
Justice Laurie Ackermann, who is an Honorary Professor
in the Faculty. These are listed below, together with
books edited by our staff:
Fisheries and Sustainability.
A Legal Analysis of EU and West African Agreements
(Emma Witbooi),
Human Dignity: Lodestar for Equality in
South Africa
(Laurie Ackermann),
Mineral Law: Principles
and Policies in Perspective
(Hanri Mostert),
The New
Environmental Governance
(Clifford Shearing, co-author),
Accountable Government in Africa: Perspectives from
Public Law and Political Studies
(Danwood Chirwa);
African Perspectives on Tradition and Justice
(Tom
Bennett),
Labour Law in Context
(Rochelle Le Roux,
co-author),
Permanent Court of Arbitration Award Series:
The Guyana/Suriname Arbitration Award of 2007
(Lise
Bosman), and
The Law of Contract in South Africa 2nd
Edition
(Dale Hutchison).
The faculty has also maintained its tradition of being
engaged in socially responsive research. As such, the
Faculty Research and Social Responsiveness Committee
considered and approved an initiative titled the UCT Law
Advice Programme, co-ordinated by Dr Alistair Price,
senior lecturer in the Department of Private Law. The
initiative will link members of the faculty with the Legal
Resources Centre (LRC) and faculty members will provide
legal advice in a number of areas of law, as and when
needed by the LRC. In December 2011, the Traditional
Courts Bill was published in the Government Gazette and
received a critical response from a broad spectrum of
civil society. In response, the Centre for Law and Society
(previously known as the Law, Race and Gender Unit)
co-hosted a national conference for rural community-
based organisations and NGOs on the bill, resulting in the
establishment of a national co-ordinating committee.
The Kramer Law Library has established a Postgraduate
Research Commons, allowing doctoral students and
postdoctoral fellows to utilise the quiet and adapted
area for writing up their research.
The faculty is also proud to share a number of
awards and distinguished appointments received by
members of staff. Dr Sindiso Mnisi-Weeks received the
Department of Science and Technology’s Emerging
Researchers Women in Science Award for her work on
the development of rural women. The previous Director
of Research, Professor Hanri Mostert, was runner-up in
the Distinguished Young Woman Scientist in the Social
Sciences and Humanities category. Our faculty presents
an annual Research Prize for the most outstanding
article published in the preceding two years by any
member of staff of the rank of senior lecturer or
lecturer. The winner for 2012 was Dr Waheeda Amien
and the runner-up was Dr Andrew Hutchison. DGRU
director, Professor Richard Calland, has recently been
appointed to the World Bank’s Independent Access to
Information Appeals Board.
Finally, the faculty welcomed Sufia Singlee, Salona Lutchman,
and Thabi Chanetsa as academic staff. It is with sadness,
however, that I mention the passing of a wonderful teacher,
researcher, friend, and colleague, Professor John Gibson,
Director of the Institute of Marine and Environmental Law.
He will be missed by all at the Faculty of Law.
Given the relatively high staff/student ratio in the
Faculty of Law, the role of Director of Research has been
crucial in promoting research in the faculty. Professor
Loretta Feris, who took on the directorship officially
at the beginning of 2012, continues to encourage and
support research. The research featured in this year’s
report reflects the broad scope and intellectual vigour
of our faculty community. I have pleasure in sharing it
with you.