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.     

USING EXTERNSHIPS TO INTRODUCE FAMILY LAW STUDENTS TO NEW PROFESSIONAL ROLES

Law schools are seeking ways to familiarize family law students with exciting new professional roles arising in connection with family court reform. This article describes the family law externship program at William Mitchell College of Law which includes a classroom component allowing students placed in different practice settings to compare and contrast their experiences. The program assists students in making career choices and enhances their ability to counsel future clients.     

公司合并与职工权益保护

公司合并时应注意保护职工的合法权益。被合并公司职工的原劳动合同应由合并后的公司承继 ,合并公司在合并完成后不能随意解雇被合并公司的职工 ,应遵守拟制解雇和整理解雇法理。我国现行立法在保护合并时的职工权益方面尚有许多缺陷 ,亟须在今后的立法和实践中加以修正。     

完善我国的涉农信访制度——以农民利益保护为视角

在保护农民利益、维护农村社会治安的视角下,从对产生农民“信访潮”的原因分析出发。理性分析信访制度在农民利益保护方面的优势和弊端,进而作出法治化选择,对于构建信访保护农民权益的多元机制,强化现有信访制度的优点并及时完善存在的缺陷,有着积极的意义。     

论规范性文件备案审查结果的溯及力

目前,我国缺乏关于规范性文件备案审查结果溯及力的法律规定,理论上对备案审查结果是否有溯及力等问题也有争议。《全国人大常委会备案审查工作规范(征求意见稿)》规定被撤销的法规嗣后无效,被要求修改或废止的司法解释自议案通过之日起停止施行。此种规定与理论界的认知存在着较大差异,正式通过的《法规、司法解释备案审查工作办法》则取消了有关溯及力的内容。备案审查结果的溯及力涉及法的一致性、法的安定性、公民和组织的权益、公共利益、信赖利益等多种法益,需要对这些相互之间关系复杂的法益进行综合的衡量。在我国,构建规范性文件备案审查溯及力制度,应以专门且更高级别的文件规定备案审查结果的溯及力问题,对立法性文件和司法解释实行备案审查决定上的无差别适用。与此同时,应在衡量法益的基础上赋予“撤销”和“废止”相同的效果,并对基于无效规范所作的司法裁判及其他行为进行效力区分,还应当在比较规范性文件与其所违反的上位法的生效时间的先后顺序的基础上决定溯及力的起点。     

中亚地区的俄中关系:合作还是竞争?

由于各种原因,中俄对中亚的政策有很大的不同,但双方应考虑到彼此动机的差异.鉴于这两个大国都有志于中亚的稳定,而中亚的稳定又有赖于双方旨在刺激中亚经济发展和消除中亚贫困的共同努力,因此中俄有可能、也有必要协调双方在中亚的利益.上海合作组织也能在一定程度上作为协调中俄之间、以及中俄与中亚各国间利益关系的体制框架.     

中国-东盟关系四十年发展的历程及其启示:共同利益的视角

中国-东盟关系的发展历程表明,双方关系是随着彼此间共同利益的日益增加而不断发展的,因此,双方关系发展的过程就是不断建构共同利益的过程.建构共同利益是中国-东盟关系发展的基本经验.未来双方要进一步发展关系,应继续致力于共同利益的建构.     

论行政违法行为的特征性要素——以新制度经济学为视角

行政处罚作为内生于政府规制的保障手段,在实现公共管理目标的过程中,其适用范围在理论上有限度但在实践中可能是模糊的。通过建立和推演行政处罚的博弈模型可以导出,行政违法行为应当具有不正当的可期待利益这一特征性要素。以此要素为标准,执法者可以明确法律规则的行为模式外延并就某一具体行为是否属于该外延作出判断,进而实现行政法律责任的依法追究。     

基于权益的治安管理客体分析

治安管理客体是治安管理学理论研究中的一个重要问题,是治安管理活动不可或缺的构成要素,但学术界对治安管理客体的概念一直没有取得共识,表述各异,比较典型的有“对象说”、“影响因素说”和“社会关系说”等,这表明治安管理客体尚未被准确定位。基于“权益”来界定治安管理客体的概念,即治安管理客体为治安管理主体依法规范、调整和保护的合法权益,既有利于治安学理论体系的构建和完善,又有利于公安机关正确分析和解决实践中的一些治安难点问题。     

中国国家利益与美国主导的国际反恐利益的重合与排异——兼论中国外交空间的开辟和外交资源的利用

国际恐怖主义与国际反恐斗争引起国际关系的急剧变化和大国关系的调整.大国关系的调整及缓和源于大国安全观念的变化.尽管中国国家安全利益与美国主导的国际反恐利益之间存在一些分歧,但也有较多利益交汇与重合.这为中国外交提供了更为广阔的活动空间,也为中国积累了新的外交资源.中国可着力于外交空间的开辟和外交资源的利用,扩大"两个利益"间的共同点,同时,缩小并弥合分歧,从根本上维护中国国家安全利益.