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Human Rights Law

Golden Gate University School of Law

Publications

2007

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Adjudicating Non-Justiciable Rights: Socio-Economic Rights And The South African Constitutional Court, Eric C. Christiansen Jan 2007

Adjudicating Non-Justiciable Rights: Socio-Economic Rights And The South African Constitutional Court, Eric C. Christiansen

Publications

This paper begins with an examination of social rights in the South African constitutional drafting process. Following a review of the traditional arguments against the justiciability of socio-economic rights, it then examines the South African Constitutional Court cases addressing social rights, focusing on four primary cases: the antecedent case Ex parte Chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly: In re Certification of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and three substantive social rights cases, Thiagraj Soobramoney v Minister of Health, KwaZulu-Natal, Government of Republic of South Africa v Irene Grootboom and Others, and Minister of Health v Treatment Action …


Exporting South Africa's Social Rights Jurisprudence, Eric C. Christiansen Jan 2007

Exporting South Africa's Social Rights Jurisprudence, Eric C. Christiansen

Publications

One of the most distinctive elements of South Africa’s jurisprudence has been its willingness to adjudicate socio-economic rights in addition to traditional civil and political rights. While the advancement of social welfare as a whole has clearly proceeded at a far slower pace than political equality, the Constitutional protection of social rights and its enforcement by the Court continues to inspire social justice advocates in their work within South Africa and abroad. Indeed, despite the as-yet inadequate advancement of substantive socio-economic equality, much can be praised about the South African Constitutional project—and much can be learned from it. Particularly, much …