LME 3701 Marked Assignment4.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAW PERTAINING TO ACTIVE EUTHANASIA AND THE LEGAL STATUS QUO IN SOUTH AFRICA By SP MTHEMBU () Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree LLB In the SCHOOL OF LAW UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: DR L PIENAAR (ASSIGNMENT 02) 2019 ii Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................1 2. PROBLEM STATEMENT .................................................................................................................2 3. HYPOTHESIS.....................................................................................................................................2 4. POINTS OF DEPARTURE AND ASSUMPTIONS .......................................................................2 5. CONCEPTUALIZATION OF CENTRAL RESEARCH THEME..................................................2 5.1 Fundamental values of human rights .......................................................................................2 5.1 Substance offered by the case laws.........................................................................................2 5.2 Substantive law ..............................................................................................................................3 6. CHAPTER OUTLAY..........................................................................................................................3 7. PROJECT TIME SCALE...................................................................................................................3 8. DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................4 9. PREPARATORY STUDY................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 9.1 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 ..............................................................4 9.2 Robert Stransham-ford v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and Others................................................................................................................................................5 9.3 Clarke v Hurst NO 1992 (4) SA 630 (D) .....................................................................................5 9.4 Euthanasia – No dignity in death in the absence of an ethos of respect for human life.......................................................................................................................................................6 9.5 Physician Assisted Suicide in South Africa: A Constitutional Perspective...................6 9.6 S v Hartmann 1975 (3) SA 532 (C)..............................................................................................6 9.7 Assisted suicide and euthanasia: a natural law ethics approach.....................................7 9.8 Euthanasia: A reference handbook...........................................................................................8 9.9 Foundational Principles of South African Medical Law.......................................................8 9.10 Report on Euthanasia and Artificial Preservation of Life by South African Law Commission (SALC)......................................................................................................................9 10. CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................10 11. BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................................................11 ACADEMIC HONESTY DECLARATION.............................................................................................12 1 1. INTRODUCTION The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic. All laws or conducts, which are inconsistent with it are invalid, and the obligations which are imposed by it must be fulfilled. In terms of section 11 of the Constitution, 1996 everyone has the right to life. The law in South Africa is silent about the right to die. Committing suicide is ethically and or morally wrong, however it is legal in the sense that there is no law forbidding such act, nonetheless assisting someone to commit suicide is an act that has no legal ground in South Africa given the inescapable fact that there is no codified legislation and or common law providing for such act. Milton (1996:353-354) says that active euthanasia amounts to suicide and suicide is not illegal. Coetzee and Pienaar (2012: 139) define active euthanasia as the case where someone commits an intentional act to end the life of a person suffering from an incurable disease, with the objective of relieving the person‟s suffering. This research investigates the historical development of the law pertaining active euthanasia and the legal status quo in South Africa. It focuses on the development of the law regarding euthanasia during apartheid era and postapartheid era. In trying to address the question, the meaning of section 11 in the light of the Constitutional Court‟s interpretation in the matter of Soobramoney v Minister of Health, Kwazulu-Natal. 1 Sections 2(1)(e) and 8(1) of the Animal Protection Act of 1962 will be looked at for int6erpretational purposes as such provisions considered it humane to euthanize an animal, which is seriously ill or which is seriously injured. The focus of the research will however be limited to constitutional era and apartheid era.