HFL 1501Final Portfolio.pdf

MODULE : HFL1501 FIRST SEMESTER : FINAL PORTFOLIO UNIQUE NUMBER : CLOSING DATE : 21 ST MAY 2018 PART ONE THE ORIGINS OF SOUTH AFRICAN LAW _________________________________________________________________ QUESTION ONE 1. The South African Law Reform Commission was established in 1973. There are certain matters that are approved by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and referred to the South African Law Reform Commission by Parliament. The task of the Commission is to then investigate and research these matters in order to develop, improve and modernise the relevant laws. During their investigation the Commission considers the current law, the historical development of the matter and then recommends changes in order to reform the law. These recommendations are put into a draft bill which is studied by Parliament and if accepted, it becomes the new law. The South African Law Reform Commission has achieved success in developing and harmonising South African Law. There were many laws that were made during the Apartheid Era that did not have room for fair and equal human rights according to our Constitution and the Commission helps resolves these discrepancies. The Commission has helped integrate many different religions into our legal system more specifically regarding marriage and succession. The Commission has proposed a Draft Bill on the Recognition of Islamic Marriages. The South African Law Reform Commission also helped incorporate indigenous laws into our legal system which played a huge role in the development of South Africa. It also reformed many indigenous laws in order to meet the standards of the Constitution in order to integrate it. This was seen when the Commission’s recommendation led to the promulgation of the Reform of Customary Law of Succession and Regulation of Related Matters Act 11 of 2009. The Commission has also played an important role in including human rights in our legal system, this is shown by the Traditional Courts Bill, 2008 which was drafted based on recommendations by the South African Law Reform Commission but has not yet been finalized due to concerns regarding the rights of woman and children. QUESTION TWO 2.1 John Locke was the first to suggest that natural law consisted of inalienable human rights. Locke based he’s development on Hugo de Groot’s idea of a social contract. John Locke suggested that the reason citizens agreed to create a state was only because they expected protection of their basic rights to life, liberty and property by the state and therefore the state’s power is limited by their duties to protect these rights. 2.2 Linvestment CC v Hammersley and another 2008 JDR 190 (SC