To Wonderland Through the Looking-glass: Conceiving a Critical Legal Argument for Contractual Justice in the South African Law of Contract †

The aim of this paper is to identify the possible substructure (looking glass/es) of a critical legal argument for contractual justice (Wonderland) in the South African law of contract. South African contract law still fails, ten years after the constitutional transformation, to reflect the constitutional ideals of freedom, equality and human dignity in an acceptable manner. I argue that this disposition places a question mark over the legitimacy of contract law and marginalizes opportunities for the social change envisaged by the Constitution. The paper explores Duncan Kennedy’s Form and Substance-argument and indicates that the reluctance to accommodate these values may be attributable to the fact that the majority of role-players position themselves on the individualism/rules side of Kennedy’s continuum – a paradigm that perceives the law of contract as a body of positivistic rules to be applied neutrally and regardless of the social or socio-economic distortions its application may generate. In an attempt to move away from this traditional approach, the privileged paradigm is criticised. A typical CLS-approach is followed which employs sociology, psychological jurisprudence and game theory to criticise the law from outside the restrictive realms of law itself. Simultaneously, I attempt to illuminate the argument for a shift (step through the looking glass) to another paradigm. I conclude that our judiciary finds itself in a position similar to that of Plato’s prisoners in the cave and will not reach the point where they apply relevant (constitutional) values directly to contractual disputes. The State is thus responsible for infusing contract law with contractual justice, by implementing legislation to this effect in order to limit the hegemonic consequences of the judiciary’s obsession with freedom of contract and utopian rules, which fail in reality to further the ideal of justice. Paper presented at the Critical Legal Conference, 4 September 2004, London, UK. This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Judge of Appeal, Mr. Justice P.J. Olivier. The paper is based on research conducted for the thesis in partial fulfilment of the degree LLD in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria under the title ‘A critical legal argument for contractual justice in the South African law of contract.’ The degree supervisor is Professor Karin van Marle in the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence. The author wishes to thank the following persons for valuable deliberations and input: Karin van Marle, Graham Bradfield and Anashri Pillay. In addition, the author wishes to acknowledge and thank the University of Cape Town for financially supporting this research. †Paper presented at the Critical Legal Conference, 4 September 2004, London, UK. This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Judge of Appeal, Mr. Justice P.J. Olivier. The paper is based on research conducted for the thesis in partial fulfilment of the degree LLD in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria under the title ‘A critical legal argument for contractual justice in the South African law of contract.’ The degree supervisor is Professor Karin van Marle in the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence. The author wishes to thank the following persons for valuable deliberations and input: Karin van Marle, Graham Bradfield and Anashri Pillay. In addition, the author wishes to acknowledge and thank the University of Cape Town for financially supporting this research. apply relevant (constitutional) values directly to contractual disputes. The State is thus responsible for infusing contract law with contractual justice, by implementing legislation to this effect in order to limit the hegemonic consequences of the judiciary’s obsession with freedom of contract and utopian rules, which fail in reality to further the ideal of justice.     

Resignifications and subversive transformations: Judith Butler’s queer theory and women who kill

This article provides an empirical study of a number of cases dealing with women who kill their abusive partners and the construction of the battered woman syndrome in order to identity the possibilities for transformation within the legal system. Drawing upon the work of Judith Butler, the article will argue that the unstable nature of social terms and the nature of social power provides the potential for resignifying and subversively transforming the gender identities constructed and perpetuated by the law. In addition to outlining the defences for murder and engaging in a close examination of the cases, the article will also provide a critical analysis of Judith Butler’s approach to subject formation. Dr Anna Carline LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD. Law Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University.     

常人方法学理论探析

社会学理论总是试图清晰地描述并解释社会行动及由此产生的复杂的生活世界 ,在熟知的基础上达到真知。传统的结构功能主义范式在这方面建立了较为完整的分析框架 ;而 5 0年代产生于美国的常人方法学理论则对结构功能主义理论进行了全方位的批判 ,并在“权宜性行动”、“索引性”、“反身性”等概念基础上建立了独特的社会学理论和分析方法。常人方法学为我们提供了全新的研究路径 ,但是它并没有完成给自己赋予的使命。     

谁是非法讯问的受益者?--侦查讯问的博弈分析

博弈论是研究冲突对抗条件下最优决策问题的理论,将其经典模型“囚徒困境”与侦查讯问进行类比,可以建立讯问中警察与犯罪嫌疑人的博弈模型。在我国,警察和犯罪嫌疑人博弈遭到破解的主要原因是警察的合法讯问和非法讯问策略、犯罪嫌疑人的坦白和抗拒策略均存在严重的效用倒置,这也是导致警察选择非法讯问,而犯罪嫌疑人选择抗拒策略的主要原因。为倒正警察和犯罪嫌疑人策略的效用,必须建立非法口供排除规则、明确口供合法性的证明责任、完善非法讯问法律责任体系、消除认定事实对口供的依赖、提高强制措施的适用标准等。     

创新:全球化条件下中国社会主义的抉择

全球化条件下的中国,走向市场经济的背后是一种全新的革新机制。这种机制在中国过去任何的制度记忆和体验中都是前所未有的,建立这种机制的压力和经验几乎全都来自外部世界。为了适应这种全球化所导致的由内生型改革走向外生型改革的挑战,中国的社会主义理论和制度层面都进行了创新,但从进展看仍然面临从外部到内部的不平衡问题。为了迎接全球化条件下的经济市场化、政治民主化和思想文化多样化的深刻挑战,当代中国的社会主义必须真正着眼于长远进行理论和制度创新。     

气候变化的国际法发展:从温室效应理论到《联合国气候变化框架公约》

本文考察了温室效应理论对缔结《联合国气候变化框架公约》的决定性影响 ,并对《联合国气候变化框架公约》的基本法律原则 (规则 )及其对国际环境立法的贡献进行了述评。     

拥挤理论在超市结算区人群管理中的应用

通过确定超市结算区人体平均投影面积,给出了结算区最大容许人数。利用拥挤理论,根据不同时段下的人群到达率,得出了收款台最低开放台数,并据此对结算区内人群聚集风险进行了分析。在综合考虑结算区的最大容许人数、人群可忍受的平均等候时间及机器利用率的基础上,确定了各时段的收款台最佳开放数。从超市的自身效益、购物环境和聚集人群安全性出发,针对超市结算区的人群聚集风险提出了可行的减缓措施。     

二层次四要件犯罪构成论——兼议正当化行为的体系地位

以解决正当化行为在犯罪论体系中地位不定,及其与犯罪构成关系不明为突破口;以反映定罪过程、权力与权利的平衡以及对抗制的诉讼程序特点为价值立场;兼顾中国已有的理论与实务情况,主张在我国犯罪构成论的应有结构为两层次四要件犯罪构成结构.此即:第一层次,三个要件,依次为犯罪客观要件、犯罪主体要件和犯罪主观要件;第二层次为犯罪客体一个要件,其中,正当化行为等作为排除犯罪客体的事由在此纳入犯罪构成要件之中.无此事由,犯罪即告成立.     

IDENTIFYING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT MEDIATE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PARENTING PRACTICES AND DELINQUENCY*

Past research has largely ignored the developmental changes within the child that account for the association between parenting and risk for delinquency. We used structural equation modeling and data from a longitudinal study of several hundred African‐American families to test the contentions of various theories regarding the sociocognitive and emotional factors that mediate the impact of parental behavior on a youth's risk for delinquency. Our findings largely supported the theories. The impact of monitoring/discipline was indirect through low self‐control and acceptance of deviant norms, whereas the effect of hostility/ rejection was indirect through low self‐control, hostile view of relationships, and acceptance of deviant norms. These two dimensions of parenting were no longer related either to affiliation with deviant peers or to conduct problems once the effects of these psychological characteristics were taken into account; the impact of these parenting practices was completely mediated by these four cognitive/affective variables. Contrary to expectation, however, these psychological factors did not mediate any of the relationship between caretaker involvement in antisocial behavior and child conduct problems.