Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
ISSN 1727-3781

2013 Volume 16 Number 3 

29 August 2013

Editorial

The third issue of 2013 contains 12 contributions ranging from two orationes, nine articles and one note. The first oratio is an address delivered by Karthy Govender at the Law Faculty, University of Michigan, to commemorate the 2013 Martin Luther King Day at the Law Faculty, University of Michigan. He draws parallels between King, Ghandhi and Mandela and discusses the influence they all had in the development of South Africa into a democratic state. In the second oratio Mike van Graan airs his views on the Revised White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage of 2013, published by the Department of Arts and Culture. His main concern is the haste in which the white paper is being taken through the process, and he cautions against the adoption of a far-reaching policy which has not been thoroughly considered.

The first article, by Irma Kroeze, examines the concepts of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and their application in a legal context. She comes to the conclusion that the first happens quite often whilst the latter two methods of research rarely happens in a legal context. In the second, Hanri du Plessis investigates whether or not the common law rule of "unilateral determination" in contract law should be retained in the South African law and concludes that the final answer would depend on the facts of each case with due consideration of public policy, bona fides, contractual equity and other relevant factors. In the third article Pieter Bakker discusses the application of chaos theory in family law. He is not in favour of the current trend of deregulating intimate relationships and argues in favour of one statute regulating all such relationships. In the fourth, Jamil Mujuzi debates the initiative of the South African government to enter into prisoner transfer agreements and the challenges such a move would pose within the correctional services system. The author of the firth article, Raymond Koen, gives a philosophical perspective on the interconnectedness of the theory of restorative justice developed by Christie and the general theory of law formulated by Pushukanis, especially in the context of property law. Heidi Schoeman is the author of the sixth article. She deals with the Companies Act 71 of 2008 which grants rights to trade unions to represent employees at the workplace, and argues that these rights should be given only to trade unions that are registered in terms of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995. The seventh article, co-authored by Jadesola Lokulo-Sodipe and Abiodun Osuntogun, explains that the decision of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to re-design its executive secretariat into a quasi-independent commission was taken with the purpose of converting ECOWAS into a supranational entity. Their contribution considers whether or not a supranational system is indeed essential for the attainment of ECOWAS' objectives. The second last article, by Chantelle Feldhaus and Chantelle van den Heever, deals with the important question of whether or not the sexual orientation of a parent is a factor to be considered when the care of a child needs to be evaluated. In the last article, by Zannelize Strauss and Debbie Horsten, the authors argue that adequate access to essential medicines, as an element of the right of access to health care, could contribute to the alleviation of poverty.

Michelle Fuchs, the author of the only note, deals with the Constitutional Court's interpretation of section 129(1) of the National Credit Act 34 of 2005, that describes the execution procedure in case of a mortgage bond, in Sebola v Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd 2012 5 SA 142 (CC).

Editor:
Prof C Rautenbach
                       

Orationes

Articles

Note

Edition Editor
Dr Anél Terblanche

Adobe acrobat reader is needed for opening the pdf files.
Download