Le Roux v Dey and Children's Rights Approaches to Judging

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2018/v21i0a3075

Keywords:

children’s rights, best interests of the child, children’s rights approaches to judging

Abstract

The South African jurisprudence on the rights of children is vibrant and generally progressive, and is supported by an enabling constitutional and statutory framework. The majority decision in Le Roux v Dey 2011 3 SA 274 (CC), however, ignores the rights of children, and this is in stark contrast to some of the minority judgments in the same case. This contrast is surprising, considering that all of the judges applied the same legal framework. With reference to an emerging interest in defining children's rights approaches to judging, this article critically analyses the majority and minority judgments, and establishes their vulnerabilities and strengths as children's rights judgments. In the process, suggestions are made in relation to defining a children's rights approach to judging.

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Author Biography

Meda Couzens, University of Kwazulu-Natal

Honorary Research Fellow, UKZN, Faculty of Law

References

Literature

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Legislation

Child Justice Act 75 of 2008

Children’s Act 38 of 2005

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African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990)

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List of Abbreviations

Cornell L Rev Cornell Law Review

CRJP Children's Rights Judgments Project

FXI Freedom of Expression Institute

IJLPF International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family

Int'l J Children's Rts International Journal of Children's Rights

RJC Restorative Justice Centre

SALJ South African Law Journal

SCA Supreme Court of Appeal

Stell LR Stellenbosch Law Review

Published

29-01-2018

How to Cite

Couzens, M. (2018). Le Roux v Dey and Children’s Rights Approaches to Judging. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 21, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2018/v21i0a3075

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