The Constitution stipulates that its value-commitments are to inform the
interpretation of statutes and the development of the common law and customary
law. Legislative construction and law-application generally are therefore to be
perceived as involving an axiological dimension.
Three hermeneutical traditions are dealt with to the end of clarifying the approaches
to be adopted in everyday legal• argumentation. The study culminates in the
adduction of leads for substantive !juridical argument in the process of statutory
interpretation and in handling common-law and customary-law sources. These
leads are shown to be functional byi way of a critical discussion of recent case law
and a conspectus of contemporary t~ought bearing on the nature of customary law.
The social dimension of the legal process is throughout underscored as a factor of
significance. Concomitantly, it is rcigistered that the jurisprudence of formalism, so
marked an attitude of a previous time, should be abjured to the extent that it is
disdainful of value-commitment. Conformably, literalist and literalist-cumintentionalist
perceptions as well as kindred stances are berated.
The penultimate chapter of this thesis suggests an encompassing approach to the
interpretation of statutes, comprised of a systematic tabulation of insights
previously garnered. The fmal chapter postulates that common law and customary
law are not to be dealt with upon an interchangeable basis, inasmuch as the sources go out from radically divergent premises. It then proceeds to elaborate a
conceptual framework for dealing respectively with each of these sources. / Law / LL.D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/17636 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Ross, Derrick Bernard |
| Contributors | Van Blerk, Adrienne E., Du Plessis, L. M. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource ([9], 391 leaves) |
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