Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia
Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
Saved in:
| Other Authors: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Pretoria
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613571411607552 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Van Marle, Karin |
| author_browse | Van Marle, Karin |
| author_facet | Van Marle, Karin |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/49387 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:38:15.902Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/49387 Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia Van Marle, Karin Mundia, Kenneth Ferdie UCTD SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions Law theses SDG-16 Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. The Namibian Constitution grounds the legal system in values such as the rule of law, democracy, equality, respect for human dignity, freedom etc. My aim was to approach the Constitution as a transformative document. This is mainly because the Constitution aims to transform the Namibian society from one characterized by injustice and inequality for example, to a society where the principle of equality reigns supreme, and where the rule of law, respect for human dignity etc. are the distinguishing characteristics of the legal order. However, the study noted the Constitution’s failure to entrench socioeconomic rights as justiciable rights and the question was raised whether this necessarily undermines the Constitution’s transformative goals. Overall, my aim was to consider to what extent the approach of Dworkin could address this failure. This study was undertaken out of two concerns; firstly, the Namibian Constitution can be termed a ‘classical liberal’ document which emphasizes civil and political rights at the expense of socio-economic rights; and secondly, the Supreme Court of Namibia’s current approach to constitutional interpretation is inadequate to realize the transformative aims of the Constitution. Whereas Namibia’s Supreme Court has over the past 23twenty-three years underlined the need to construe the Constitution broadly, liberally, and purposively, it has failed to do so consistently, thus casting doubt on the objectivity of constitutional values. For example, the Court’s decision in S v Mushwena & Others is one that hardly resonates with constitutional values of respect for the rule of law, respect for human dignity, and the right to fair trial. Nonetheless, I argued that Dworkin’s approach of constructive interpretation and law as integrity could address both the Constitution’s failure to entrench socio-economic rights and also the Supreme Court’s incoherent approach to constitutional interpretation. To this end, the study recommends a moral reading of the Namibian Constitution, one based on Dworkin’s theory of constructive interpretation and law as integrity. This moral reading of the Constitution is not only to be limited to civil and political rights, but also to socio-economic rights implied in the principles of state policy. tm2015 Jurisprudence LLD Unrestricted 2015-08-19T06:38:37Z 2015-08-19T06:38:37Z 2015 2015 Thesis Mundia, KF 2015, Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia, LLD Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/49387> A2015 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/49387 en © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions Law theses SDG-16 Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia |
| title | Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia |
| title_full | Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia |
| title_fullStr | Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia |
| title_short | Ronald Dworkin and the Supreme Court of Namibia |
| title_sort | ronald dworkin and the supreme court of namibia |
| topic | UCTD SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions Law theses SDG-16 |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/49387 |