Constitutional Law: Bill of Rights Litigation
Section A: Procedural Stage
Section B: Substantive Stage
Section C: Remedy Stage
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION TO BILL OF RIGHTS LITIGATION ..................................................................................................................... 2
BASIC STRUCTURE OF BOR LITIGATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
PROCEDURAL STAGE............................................................................................................................................................................. 4
2 DIRECT APPLICATION: BENEFICIARIES .................................................................................................................................... 5
NATURAL PERSONS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
JURISTIC PERSONS ................................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Territorial application ................................................................................................................................................................. 6
3 DIRECT VERTICAL APPLICATION ............................................................................................................................................. 7
DIRECT APPLICATION ............................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Direct vertical application........................................................................................................................................................... 7
ORGANS OF STATE ............................................................................................................................................................................... 8
4 DIRECT HORIZONTAL APPLICATION ........................................................................................................................................ 9
S8(2) CONSTITUTION, 1996 ............................................................................................................................................................... 10
S8(3) CONSTITUTION, 1996 ............................................................................................................................................................... 12
5 INDIRECT APPLICATION I ...................................................................................................................................................... 15
PRINCIPLE OF AVOIDANCE .................................................................................................................................................................... 15
S39(2) CONSTITUTION, 1996.............................................................................................................................................................. 15
DEVELOPING THE COMMON LAW ......................................................................................................................................................... 15
6 INDIRECT APPLICATION II ..................................................................................................................................................... 17
INTERPRETATION OF LEGISLATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 17
7 APPLICATION SUMMARY & SUBSIDIARITY ........................................................................................................................... 18
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 18
SUBSIDIARITY .................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
8 JUSTICIABILITY ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22
JUSTICIABILITY ................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Ripeness .................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Mootness .................................................................................................................................................................................. 25
9 JURISDICTION I .................................................................................................................................................................... 27
THE CONSTITUTION 17TH AMENDMENT ACT, 2012: ................................................................................................................................. 27
Constitutional jurisdiction......................................................................................................................................................... 27
10 JURISDICTION II.................................................................................................................................................................. 30
ACCESS TO THE CC ............................................................................................................................................................................. 30
CC: Exclusive jurisdiction........................................................................................................................................................... 30
Direct access to CC:................................................................................................................................................................... 31
Appeals ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Procedures: ............................................................................................................................................................................... 32
11 INTERPRETATION ............................................................................................................................................................... 35
HUMAN DIGNITY ............................................................................................................................................................................... 35
Human Dignity as a value ......................................................................................................................................................... 36
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, Human Dignity as a right .......................................................................................................................................................... 37
13 LIMITATION OF RIGHTS – ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................... 39
INTERPRETATION & LIMITATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 40
LIMITATION ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 40
Purpose of limitation clause ..................................................................................................................................................... 41
RELATION BETWEEN RIGHTS & LIMITATION ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 41
First stage ................................................................................................................................................................................. 41
Second stage ............................................................................................................................................................................ 42
14 REMEDIES .......................................................................................................................................................................... 48
REMEDY STAGE ................................................................................................................................................................................. 48
Purpose of Constitution remedies............................................................................................................................................. 49
Declarations of invalidity .......................................................................................................................................................... 49
Section A: Procedural Stage
Content:
Assume that A alleges that a right protected in the Bill of Rights has been infringed by another party. During
the procedural stage the following questions are considered:
1. Is A a beneficiary of the right in the Bill of Rights? If so, it is asked ...
2. Whether the party who allegedly infringed the right of A is bound by the particular right in question?
If so, the following question arises:
3. Is the matter justiciable? In other words, does A have standing, is the matter ripe, or is it perhaps,
moot? If the matter is justiciable, then it is asked ...
4. Which court will have jurisdiction to hear the matter?
1. BENEFICIARIES
Prescribed Reading
• S 8(4) of the Constitution, 1996
• De Vos et al Constitutional Law pages 323-326
• Currie and De Waal Bill of Rights Handbook Chapter 3.3(a)
• Lawyers for Human Rights and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Another 2004 (4) SA 125
(CC) paras 25-27
Additional non-compulsory reading:
• Khosa and Others v Minister of Social Development and Others; Mahlaule and Others v Minister of
Social Development and Others 2004 (6) SA 505 (CC) paras 57-59
Questions to consider:
• Are persons who are not South African citizens entitled to the rights in the BOR?
• How does one determine whether a juristic person is entitled to a particular right in the BOR?
1 Introduction to Bill of Rights litigation
Role of the Constitution:
• Places restrictions/checks on the exercise of all public power
• Procedurally through Separation of Powers
• Substantively the BOR and other values (rule of law)
Purpose of BOR:
• You cannot transgress any human rights
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, • It goes further than telling the state that it can’t interfere in our rights
• Also prevents other individuals from interfering in our rights
Justiciability:
• A right to enforce your rights. Eg. Right to dignity and right to enforce your right to dignity.
Rights in the BOR:
• Socio-economic rights
Right to housing
• Social and civil and political rights
o Partake in the state – petition and form political parties.
Procedural stage
Basic structure of BOR litigation • Can X go to court to claim his/her right was
• Procedural Stage infringed?
o Application • Is the person/organization who allegedly
infringed X’s rights bound by the duties
o Justiciability imposed by the right?
o Jurisdiction Substantive stage
• Substantive Stage • What is the scope of the right and does the
o S39 Interpretation law or conduct infringe on the right?
o S36 Limitation • If it does, is the infringement justifiable in
terms of the limitation clause set out in s36
• Remedy Stage of the Constitution?
o S38 Enforcement of rights Remedy Stage
o S172 Powers of courts in constitutional matters • Is there an unjustifiable infringement of the
• Onus of Proof? right, what order must the court give to
remedy the problem?
Rights in the bill of rights:
• Classification of rights is not that important but the difference between civil and political rights, and socio-
economic rights is important to know.
Role of international law:
• Constitution is young, didn’t have own jurisprudence to fall back on and so they looked at international law.
And so there will be many references to international law. International law is interpretative tools. In some
cases the international law is binding.
Overview
Procedural stage
à Claim that either a law or an action violates a right in chapter 2 of the constitution.
• Application
o Is the person claiming that there is a violation - does the BOR apply?
o Does the person who infringed that right have a duty not to interfere in that right
• Justiciability
o Consider whether or not the person has standing to enforce that right
o The question of whether to bring the case too early or too late
• Jurisdiction
o Only some courts have jurisdiction.
o It must be asked if the court has jurisdiction.
Substantive stage
• Where we consider the scope of the right and whether the law or conduct in question, infringes the right.
• Interpretation in terms of s39 Constitution
• For Eg. S9 equality. You have satisfied the procedural stage. In the substantive stage; through the
interpretation of the equality provision, it has been proved that there is a violation. Then you move onto
whether your right is justifiably limited.
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, • Limitation analysis in terms of s36 Constitution
Remedy stage
• Through all of this, we must remember the onus of proof.
o Usually on the individual to prove that someone else infringed on your right
o And then it shifts to the state to prove if the limitation on the right is justified.
• If an infringement has been proved, and the infringement is not justifiable in terms of s36, the court must
award a remedy for the violation of the right.
Procedural Stage
Application
1. Who benefits from the BOR / who are the beneficiaries?
a. It depends on the specific right in the BOR.
§ A limited number of rights are qualified in that only ‘citizens’ (s19, 20 & 22 Constitution),
‘children’ (s28) or ‘detained’ (s35) persons can claim them.
• For Eg.s28(1)(c) à We don’t have the right to shelter like children. We have the
right to adequate housing.
§ One must look at the provision grammatically to determine who the right applies to
2. Who is bound by the BOR? And how are they bound?
a. s8(1) binds the legislature, executive, judiciary & all organs of state.
b. S8(2) natural & juristic person, taking into account the nature of the right & the nature of the duty
imposed by the right.
c. Direct application ito s8(1) & (2) = purpose is to determine whether ordinary rules of law are
consistent with BOR. if not, BOR overrides ordinary rules. Own special remedies.
§ For eg. Suppose Parliament has adopted and the President has just assented to, a new
Films and Publications Act 300 of 2013 (‘the Act’). In terms of section 10 of the Act,
distributors of films and publishers must submit materials for classification to the Film and
Publications Board (‘the Board’) if they contain ‘presentations or descriptions of sexual
conduct’. The Board has the power to ban films or publications containing explicit sexual
content that violates or shows disrespect for the right to human dignity of any person. It
can also impose age restrictions. Your client, a publisher, believes that the Act constitutes
an impermissible restriction of the constitutional right to freedom of expression.
• In this case there is direct reliance on s18 and the power that this legislation allows
for a violation
• The BOR will override the legislation.
d. Indirect application = purpose is to determine whether ordinary rules of law promote the values of
the BOR. If not, BOR does not override the ordinary law, but BOR is used to develop the ordinary law
to avoid inconsistency with the BOR.
i. For Eg.
1. there is no reliance on a specific provision in the bill of rights but what is required is
that you interpreted the legislation to conform the values of the common law and
the BOR on the other hand.
2. there is a general rule that you must first use indirect application through common
law before using direct.
ii. A gay couple were refused accommodation in a guesthouse. The staff of the guesthouse
made it clear that gay persons were not welcome. The gay couple (the claimants) argue that:
1. The conduct of the guesthouse is in contravention of the Promotion of Equality and
Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 (PEPUDA).
2. They are entitled to claim damages from the owner of the guesthouse in terms of
the common law of delict, as read through the lens of the constitutional rights to
equality, non-discrimination and human dignity.
BOR applies vertically
• “The state must respect, protect, promote, and fulfil the rights in the BOR” = s7(2)
• But the BOR also applies horizontally
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