Judicial activism in South Afica's Constitutional Court : minority protection or judicial illegitimacy?

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dc.contributor.advisor Sylvia, Tamale
dc.contributor.postgraduate Diala, Anthony Chima
dc.date.accessioned 2008-05-19T06:52:45Z
dc.date.available 2008-05-19T06:52:45Z
dc.date.created 07-Oct
dc.date.issued 2007
dc.description Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007.
dc.description A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Associate Prof. Tamale Sylvia of the Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda en
dc.description.abstract This study examines the effect of judicial protection of minority rights on the Constitutional Court’s legitimacy. The framing of the Marriage Act shows that Parliament intended marriage to be between a man and a woman. By nullifying section 30(1) of the Act and making the order above, the Court fulfilled its constitutional mandate of upholding fundamental human rights. At the same time, it negated the intention of Parliament which represents majoritarian interests. The Constitutional Court is, in contra-distinction with Parliament, unelected. By voiding section 30(1) of the Marriage Act and arousing public opposition to legal recognition of same-sex unions, it raised a ‘countermajoritarian difficulty.’ This ‘countermajoritarian difficulty’ has elicited intense scholarly debate.17 The study examines how the Court’s negation of majoritarian interests in order to protect minority rights affects its legitimacy. en
dc.description.degree LLM
dc.description.department Centre for Human Rights
dc.description.uri http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ en
dc.format.extent 272863 bytes
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation Diala, AC 2007, Judicial activism in South Afica's Constitutional Court : minority protection or judicial illegitimacy?, LLM Mini Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/5322>
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/5322
dc.language.iso en en
dc.publisher University of Pretoria
dc.relation.ispartofseries LLM Dissertations en
dc.rights Centre for Human Rights, Law Faculty, University of Pretoria en
dc.subject UCTD
dc.subject South African Constitutional Court en
dc.subject Judicial activism en
dc.subject Judicial illegitimacy en
dc.subject South African Marriage Act en
dc.subject Minority rights en
dc.subject Majoritarian interests en
dc.subject Countermajoritarian difficulty en
dc.subject.lcsh Political questions and judicial power en
dc.subject.lcsh Marriage law en
dc.subject.lcsh Minorities -- Civil rights en
dc.title Judicial activism in South Afica's Constitutional Court : minority protection or judicial illegitimacy? en
dc.type Mini Dissertation en


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