Hugh Corder (University of Cape Town (UCT) – Faculty of Law) has posted Judicial Capacity in a Transforming Legal System (Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2017) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Given the perennial problem of lack of access to justice; the fact that there was no shortage of superior court judges until 1994; the demands on court process which flow directly from transition to the constitutional democratic system; and the urgent and justified necessity for the demographic transformation of judicial personnel, two challenges to the capacity of the judicial system present themselves in South Africa:
-Enlarging the number of suitable candidates for judicial appointment to redress the former demographic imbalance; and developing the kind of skills among those appointed as judges to be able to respond with confidence across a wide range of often complex legal issues; and
– Developing a theory of judicial deference which observes the separation of powers and preserves judicial independence.
This paper explores these challenges, after setting out the socio-political context, as it impacts directly on their nature and scope, and the prospects of meeting them.