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.     

多学科、兼顾历史与现状、教学相长：南洋研究院华人研究特点与存在问题（2000-2006）

南洋研究院的华侨华人研究体现了多学科、兼顾历史与现状、教学相长的特色。除了经济、历史、政治学(国际关系)等主要学科外,南洋院师生越来越多地借重民族学、宗教学、金融学、人口学、语言学、管理学、图书及版本学等学科理论与方法研究华侨华人。在侧重华侨华人现状研究时,仍继续关注华人史研究。在相关学位课程带动下,硕博生的学位论文研究日益成为南洋院华侨华人研究的重要组成部分。就总体而言,南洋院的华侨华人研究仍呈现创新能力弱、文献单薄、低水平重复等问题,这既是国内文科重量化考核导向的结果,也与研究人员浮躁的学术态度相关。     

中日稻作起源研究回顾

1973年河姆渡遗址发现后,中日两国学者对稻作起源的研究有了突破性进展,对稻作起源年代的认定更为明确,尤其是两国学者对稻作起源区域的高度认同以及研究方法、内容上的互补,大大丰富了稻作文化的内涵。     

可持续发展目标下的生态区划和景观规划

生态区划的本质是认识生态系统的分异组合和其功能的空间表现与时间进化,并指导人们的生产实践。景观规划是从人类可操作的景观水平上,体现人与自然的协调要求,关注景观结构、景观过程与景观功能的维系和创建,注意自然过程和景观格局中的物流、能流、信息流的水平运动与垂直传递,从静态格局的研究转向动态研究,注重维持多重价值景观功能的一致性优化。     

试谈扩展社会学的传统界限

社会学是一种具有"科学"和"人文"双重性格的学科,社会的存在和演化都包含在广义的"自然"的存在和演化之中,人的社会性与生物性互相兼容,互相结合,这是社会学研究的基础。从我的"人"这个中心,一圈圈推出去,就构成了两个"差序格局"。社会学研究的重点不仅仅是人的特殊的一面,还要研究人与自然一般相同的方面,"人"和"自然"、"人"和"人"、"我"和"我"、"心"和"心"等社会学至今还难以直接研究的东西,是我们真正理解中国社会的关键。     

多维视角下的中国国际地位分析

本文从GDP相关指标(传统GDP、绿色GDP和人文GDP)的排名、综合国力排名、国际竞争力排名、经济强国指数排名、《财富》全球500强企业数量排名等多个视角对中国国际地位进行了比较全面的分析。其中,经济强国指数研究是我们在国际比较领域的新尝试,该研究借鉴了综合国力评估、国际竞争力评价和人类发展指数等相关研究的理论和方法,通过深入分析国际权威数据库,设计了一套比较完整的经济强国指标体系,并计算得出各级各层经济强国指数。     

从韦勒克、艾金伯勒到伯恩海默至中国学派--比较文学的跨文明研究轨迹

韦勒克、艾金伯勒、伯恩海默以及中国学派等在比较文学学科理论上的相关观点勾勒出了一条比较文学跨文明研究的轨迹,而这条跨文明研究轨迹又是沿着两条思路展开的一是寻求不断地超越狭隘的西方中心主义束缚;二是从异质性和互补性来丰富比较文学的可比性内容.     

十年来我国妇女/性别理论研究的发展--联合国第四次世界妇女大会产生的积极影响

从1995年第四次世界妇女大会在北京的筹备和召开,到后来举行的北京 5和北京 10等一系列相关的活动,世妇会的原则和理念得到了不断的强化,这些理念凝结和渗透在妇女理论研究领域,极大地推进了我国妇女/性别理论研究事业的发展。本文回顾了十年来妇女/性别理论研究在研究内容、研究视角及研究机制等方面的变化和进展,以期进一步推动我国的妇女/性别研究在社会科学研究领域的重要影响。     

The International Monetary Fund: A review of the recent evidence

A review of recent quantitative studies on the International Monetary Fund reveals that much of the conventional wisdom is incorrect. Recent studies have demonstrated a new degree of methodological rigor, have drawn more heavily upon insights from political science, and have asked a number of new questions. We review studies of participation in IMF programs, design of IMF conditionality, implementation and enforcement of IMF conditions, conventional program effects and catalytic effects. At every stage, we find substantial evidence of the influence of major IMF shareholders, of the Fund’s own organizational imperatives, and of domestic politics within borrowing countries. We conclude that very little is known with certainty about the effects of IMF lending, but that a great deal has been learned about the mechanics of IMF programs that will have to be taken into account in order to obtain unbiased estimates of those effects.

Do volatile voters vote less correctly? An analysis of correct voting among vote (intention) switchers in US presidential election campaigns

The literature on electoral volatility and the literature on electoral campaigns hold contradictory views on voters switching vote (intention) during the campaign. In this note, we shed new light on this contradiction, making two contributions. First, we investigate the extent to which stable and volatile voters choose the correct party. Second, we distinguish levels of correct voting and the impact of the act of switching on the correctness of the vote. Our analyses of vote-switching in American elections show that, while volatile voters are less likely to vote correctly, they are more likely to switch from an incorrect to the correct party than vice versa. Furthermore, we show that following the campaign more closely makes voters more likely to switch vote (intention) towards the correct party.