Bill of Rights
The Constitution regards a threat to the Bill of
Rights in a severe manner
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[Site Home Page]
Section 38 says:>
[38] Anyone ..(or group of
persons) ...has the right to approach a
competent
court,
alleging
that a right in the Bill of Rights has been infringed or threatened, and the court may
grant appropriate relief ...(an Inquiry)
..., including a declaration of rights ..(guidelines
on how to deal with the threat to the public).
Bill of Rights
[w.r.t. LAWYER MISCONDUCT] opens
here (word doc).
Bill of Rights [FULL TEXT] opens
HERE (word doc)
CHAPTER 2
BILL OF RIGHTS w.r.t Lawyer Misconduct
7 Rights.—
(1) This Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of
democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the
rights of all people in our country and affirms
the democratic values of human dignity, equality
and freedom.
(2) The state must respect, protect, promote and
fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights.
(3) The rights in the Bill of Rights are subject
to the limitations contained or referred to in
section 36, or elsewhere in the Bill.
8. Application.Previous Page
(1) The Bill of Rights applies to all law, and
binds the legislature, the executive, the
judiciary and all organs of state.
(2) A provision of the Bill of Rights binds a
natural or a juristic person if, and to the
extent that, it is applicable, taking into
account the nature of the right and the nature
of any duty imposed by the right.
(3) When applying a provision of the Bill of
Rights to a natural or juristic person in terms
of subsection (2), a court—
(a) in order to give effect to a right in the
Bill, must apply, or if necessary develop, the
common law to the extent that legislation does
not give effect to that right; and
(b) may develop rules of the common law to limit
the right, provided that the limitation is in
accordance with section 36 (1).
(1) Everyone is equal before the law and has the
right to equal protection and benefit of the
law.
Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to
have their dignity respected and protected.
11. Life.—
Everyone has the right to life.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom and
security of the person, which includes the
right—
(a) not to be deprived of freedom arbitrarily or
without just cause;
(b) not to be detained without trial;
(c) to be free from all forms of violence from
either public or private sources;
(d) not to be tortured in any way; and
(e) not to be treated or punished in a cruel,
inhuman or degrading way.
Everyone has the right to privacy, which
includes the right not to have—
(a) their person or home searched;
(b) their property searched;
(c) their possessions seized; or
(d) the privacy of their communications
infringed.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression,
which includes—
(a) freedom of the
press and other media; (b) freedom to receive or
impart information or ideas;
(c) freedom of artistic
creativity; and
(d) academic freedom and
freedom of scientific research.
(2) The right in
subsection (1) does not extend to—
(a) propaganda for war;
(b) incitement of imminent
violence; or
(c) advocacy of hatred that is
based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that constitutes incitement to
cause harm.
(1) No one
may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application,
and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property......... [Nobody
(dirty tricks lawyers or not) has authority to walk into any registrar's office and invoke a procedure to seize immovable property - regardless of whether the lawyer has rights of appearance as an advocate or not - unless there is a court order which specifically authorises the lawyer to execute such a procedure].
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(1) Everyone has the right to have access to
adequate housing.
(2) The state must take reasonable legislative
and other measures, within its available
resources, to achieve the progressive
realisation of this right.
(3) No one may be evicted from their home, or
have their home demolished, without an order of
court made after considering all the relevant circumstances. No
legislation may permit arbitrary evictions.
(1) Every child has the right—
(d) to be protected from maltreatment, neglect,
abuse or degradation;
(h) to have a legal practitioner assigned to the
child by the state, and at state expense, in
civil proceedings affecting the child, if
substantial injustice would otherwise result;
and
(2) A child’s best interests are of paramount
importance in every matter concerning the child.
32. Access to information.—
(1) Everyone has the right of access to—
(a) any information held by the state; and
(b) any information that is held by another
person and that is required for the exercise or
protection of any rights.
(1) Everyone has the right to administrative
action that is lawful, reasonable and
procedurally fair. (clean hands doctrine)
(2) Everyone whose rights have been adversely
affected by administrative action has the right
to be given written reasons.
(3) National legislation must be enacted to give
effect to these rights, and must—
(a) provide for the review of administrative
action by a court or, where appropriate, an
independent and impartial tribunal;
(b) impose a duty on the state to give effect to
the rights in subsections (1) and (2); and
(c) promote an efficient administration.
Everyone has the right to have any dispute that
can be resolved by the application of law
decided in a fair public hearing before a court
or, where appropriate, another independent and
impartial tribunal or forum.
Previous Page (1) Everyone who is arrested for allegedly
committing an offence has the right—
(a) to remain silent;
(b) to be informed promptly—
(i) of the right to remain silent;
and
(ii) of the consequences of not
remaining silent;
(c) not to be compelled to make any confession or admission
that could be used in evidence against that
person;
(d) to be brought before a court as soon as reasonably
possible, but not later than—
(i) 48 hours after the arrest; or
(ii) the end of the first court day
after the expiry of the 48 hours, if the 48
hours expire outside ordinary court hours or on
a day which is not an ordinary court day;
(e) at the first court appearance after being arrested, to be
charged or to be informed of the reason for the
detention to continue, or to be released; and
(f) to be released from detention if the interests of justice
permit, subject to reasonable conditions.
(2) Everyone who is detained, including every
sentenced prisoner, has the right—
(a) to be informed promptly of the reason for being detained;
(b) to choose, and to consult with, a legal practitioner, and
to be informed of this right promptly;
(c) to have a legal practitioner assigned to the detained
person by the state and at state expense, if
substantial injustice would otherwise result,
and to be informed of this right promptly;
(d) to challenge the lawfulness of the detention in person
before a court and, if the detention is
unlawful, to be released;
(e) to conditions of detention that are consistent with human
dignity, including at least exercise and the
provision, at state expense, of adequate
accommodation, nutrition, reading material and
medical treatment; and
(f) to communicate with, and be visited by, that person’s—
spouse or partner;
next of kin;
chosen religious counsellor; and
chosen medical practitioner.
(3) Every accused person has a right to a fair
trial, which includes the right—
(a) to be informed of the charge with sufficient detail to
answer it;
(b) to have adequate time and facilities to prepare a
defence;
(c) to a public trial before an ordinary court;
(d) to have their trial begin and conclude without
unreasonable delay;
(e) to be present when being tried;
(f) to choose, and be represented by, a legal practitioner,
and to be informed of this right promptly;
(g) to have a legal practitioner assigned to the accused
person by the state and at state expense, if
substantial injustice would otherwise result,
and to be informed of this right promptly;
(h) to be presumed innocent, to remain silent, and not to
testify during the proceedings;
(i) to adduce and challenge evidence;
(j) not to be compelled to give self-incriminating evidence;
(k) to be tried in a language that the accused person
understands or, if that is not practicable, to
have the proceedings interpreted in that
language;
(l) not to be convicted for an act or omission that was not
an offence under either national or
international law at the time it was committed
or omitted;
(m) not to be tried for an offence in respect of an act or
omission for which that person has previously
been either acquitted or convicted;
(n) to the benefit of the least severe of the prescribed
punishments if the prescribed punishment for the
offence has been changed between the time that
the offence was committed and the time of
sentencing; and
(o)
of appeal to, or review by, a higher court.
(4) Whenever this section requires information
to be given to a person, that information must
be given in a language that the person
understands.
(5)
Evidence obtained in a manner that violates
any right in the Bill of Rights must be excluded
if the admission of that evidence would render
the trial unfair or otherwise be detrimental to
the administration of justice.
Previous Page
Anyone listed in this section
has the right to
approach a competent court,
alleging that a
right in the Bill of Rights has been infringed
or threatened, and the court may grant
appropriate relief, including a declaration of
rights. The persons who may approach a court
are—
(a) anyone acting in their own interest;
(b) anyone acting on behalf of another person who cannot act
in their own name;
(c) anyone acting as a member of, or in the interest of, a
group or class of persons;
(d) anyone acting in the public interest; and
(e) an association acting in the interest of its members.
(1) When interpreting the Bill of Rights, a
court, tribunal or forum—
(a) must promote the values that underlie an open and
democratic society based on human dignity,
equality and freedom;
(b) must consider international law; and
(c) may consider foreign law.
(2) When interpreting any legislation, and when
developing the common law or customary law,
every court, tribunal or forum must promote the
spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of
Rights.
(3) The Bill of Rights does not deny the
existence of any other rights or freedoms that
are recognised or conferred by common law,
customary law or legislation, to the extent that
they are consistent with the Bill.
CHAPTER 8Previous Page
Courts and Administration of Justice
(1) The judicial authority of the Republic is vested in the courts.—
(2)
The courts are independent and subject only to
the Constitution and the law, which they must
apply impartially and without fear, favour or
prejudice.
(3)
No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the courts.
(4)
Organs of state, through legislative and other
measures, must assist and protect the courts to
ensure the independence, impartiality, dignity,
accessibility and effectiveness of the courts.
(5) An order or decision issued by a court binds all persons to whom and organs of state to which it applies
(8) Before judicial officers begin to
perform their functions, they must take an oath or affirm, in accordance with
Schedule 2, that they will uphold and protect the Constitution.
Schedule 2
6 (1) - Oath or solemn affirmation of Judicial Officers
I, [A,B] swear/solemnly affirm that, as a Judge of the
Constitutional ....... ........ ........ Court
/ Supreme Court of Appeal / High Court / [E,F] Court, I will be
faithful to the Republic of South Africa, will uphold and
protect the Constitution and the human rights entrenched in it,
and will administer justice to all persons alike without fear,
favour or prejudice, in accordance with the Constitution and the
law.
(in the case of an oath: So help me God)
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