Page 25 - The Circle of Life

Chapter 2

The South African Legal System - a short overview

I quote mostly in this chapter from my book Your Worst Enemy which is about

the way banks treats you (illegally in many cases) and it is to give you the very

briefest of backgrounds. I cannot teach you law in one book or even ten books!
It takes six years of study to become a lawyer and then you still know very little
though it takes years of practise to understand that.

As said South Africa and the majority of African nations has a common law

system. The difference between Common Law Systems and Civil Law Systems
are so blurred that no-one really knows the difference anymore but it comes

down to the codification of laws and principles. Common Law Systems are less
codified than Civil Law Systems and depends more on case law and previous

court decisions for clarity called the “stare decisis rule." Some say it is written
law (Civil) versus unwritten law (Common) but is easier to understand with the

examples below.

Both systems may have juries but in South Africa we got rid of juries many
years ago which is a good thing in my eyes but then I know no other system.

Obviously you may feel the opposite and that is also fine. Many of my clients are
horrified with the lack of juries and feel quite strong about it so you are not a

long hair liberal for having such feelings. Each to his own I say. For myself, I am
very sceptical to allow a person untrained in law to decide my fate as I doubt

their ability to follow complex legal arguments. It takes many years of study to
understand law and even then I have my doubts if we really understand as much

as we say we do even if it is not rocket science. I don't like the subjectiveness of
a jury system either. What if my face reminds them of something akin to satan?

I want to see objectiveness in court unless the rules states otherwise as with
self-defence where the court tries to understand subjectively what you were

thinking at that stage. There is one hell of a difference whether you thought
(subjective) you were in danger and if you actually were in danger (objective). It

is the difference between walking out of court or into a cell. That by the way is
the question in this unhappy Pistorius incident which recently happened.

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