O'Regan was born in Liverpool,England,into a large Catholic family of Irish immigrants.[1][5] She moved to Cape Town when she was seven. Her mother was a dentist from a "very political household";her father was a doctor who became active in poor Catholic communities and those subjected to forced removals.[5]
The upper campus of the University of Cape Town,where O'Regan studied for five years,worked as a lecturer at the start of her career,and is now an honorary professor.
In 1985,O'Regan went to London to do a PhD at the London School of Economics on interdicts restraining strikes.[5] On her return to South Africa in 1988,she worked at the Labour Law Unit and then became an associate professor at the University of Cape Town.[5] She was a founder member of the Law,Race and Gender Research project and the Institute for Development Law at UCT;advised the African National Congress (of which she was a non-active member from 1991)[6] on land claims legislation,working with Geoff Budlender,Aninka Claassens and Derek Hanekom;[7] and served as a trustee of the Legal Resources Centre Trust.[1] She co-edited No Place to Rest:Forced Removals and the Law in South Africa and contributed to A Charter for Social Justice:A Contribution to the South African Bill of Rights Debate.[1]
O'Regan wrote several judgments on labour law,in which she had specialised as an attorney and academic. She wrote two judgments—one in 1999 and one in 2007—in the ongoing litigation between the South African National Defence Union and the South African National Defence Force,as well as NUMSA v Bader Bop,[16] a judgment dealing with the subject of her PhD thesis:the right to strike. Her 2001 judgment on the relationship between administrative law and labour law,Fredericks v MEC for Education and Training,Eastern Cape,[17] has effectively been overturned[18][19]—to almost unanimous disapproval by commentators.[20][21][22] In Sidumo v Rustenburg Platinum Mines Ltd,O'Regan wrote separately to emphasise,in agreement with the majority judgment of Navsa AJ,her law-clinic colleague of thirty years earlier,that administrative law applies to labour law disputes.[23]
In the law of delict,O'Regan's contribution has been significant. In 2002,she wrote Khumalo v Holomisa,[24] one of the Court's first judgments on defamation law and arguably its only judgment applying the Bill of Rights directly to private parties. In 2004,she delivered the Metrorail judgment,[25] which holds that Metrorail has a duty to ensure the safety of commuters on its trains and is regarded as an "exemplar" by international commentators for its protection of the right to personal security.[26] And in 2005,most famously,O'Regan gave judgment in K v Minister of Safety and Security,finding the state liable to compensate a plaintiff who was raped by a police officer.[27] The judgment's radical expansion of the test for vicarious liability,following Bazley v Curry and Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd,was celebrated by women's rights groups[28][29] but criticised by some academics.[30][31] It has been approved and applied by the Court subsequently.[32] The judgment is also still cited for its approach to the development of the common law and the use of comparative law.[33] Finally,in Steenkamp NO v Provincial Tender Board,another case on the delictual liability of public authorities,O'Regan co-wrote a dissent (with Langa CJ) that would have held the state liable for pure economic loss caused to the winner of an unlawfully awarded tender.[34]
O'Regan's fifteen-year term ended in October 2009. Her last judgment for the Court,Mazibuko v City of Johannesburg,[40] on the right to water,proved highly controversial. For some,it was a perceptively restrained summation of the Court's socio-economic rights jurisprudence;for others,it was a "disappointing" and "profoundly conservative" failure by the Court to come to the aid of South Africa's poorest communities.[41][42][43]
Nevertheless,O'Regan was hailed on her retirement as a "stalwart" of the Court,"among its most industrious,as well as progressive,members".[44] In the view of Johann Kriegler,her long-standing colleague,she was "the most outstanding success of the Constitutional Court".[45]Edwin Cameron has said she is "one of the finest minds ever appointed as a judge in South Africa".[46] After O'Regan retired,along with Pius Langa,Yvonne Mokgoro and Albie Sachs,these four founding members of the Court were replaced by PresidentJacob Zuma's first raft of senior judicial appointees.[47] This significant change in the Court's composition was seen by some as marking the start of its decline.[48]
In March 2009,the South African government refused a visa to the Dalai Lama to attend a peace conference.[49] This perceived capitulation by the ruling African National Congress to pressure from China was widely condemned,[50] including by then Minister of HealthBarbara Hogan.[51] O'Regan also spoke out,publicly agreeing with Hogan and expressing her "dismay" that "human rights does not seem to enter into the picture of some foreign affairs decisions that are made".[52][53] O'Regan was heavily criticised by the government and the Black Lawyers Association,which threatened to lay a misconduct complaint against her for "concern[ing] herself with politics".[53]
Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since the Civil Union Act,2006 came into force on 30 November 2006. The decision of the Constitutional Court in the case of Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie on 1 December 2005 extended the common-law definition of marriage to include same-sex spouses—as the Constitution of South Africa guarantees equal protection before the law to all citizens regardless of sexual orientation—and gave Parliament one year to rectify the inequality in the marriage statutes. On 14 November 2006,the National Assembly passed a law allowing same-sex couples to legally solemnise their union 229 to 41,which was subsequently approved by the National Council of Provinces on 28 November in a 36 to 11 vote,and the law came into effect two days later.
Albert "Albie" Louis Sachs is a South African lawyer,activist,writer,and former judge appointed to the first Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela.
Minister of Home Affairs and Another v Fourie and Another;Lesbian and Gay Equality Project and Others v Minister of Home Affairs and Others,[2005] ZACC 19,is a landmark decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa in which the court ruled unanimously that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. The judgment,authored by Justice Albie Sachs and delivered on 1 December 2005,gave Parliament one year to pass the necessary legislation. As a result,the Civil Union Act came into force on 30 November 2006,making South Africa the fifth country in the world to recognise same-sex marriage.
National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and Another v Minister of Justice and Others is a decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa which struck down the laws prohibiting consensual sexual activities between men. Basing its decision on the Bill of Rights in the Constitution –and in particular its explicit prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation –the court unanimously ruled that the crime of sodomy,as well as various other related provisions of the criminal law,were unconstitutional and therefore invalid.
Baaitse Elizabeth "Bess" Nkabinde is a former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Dikgang Ernest Moseneke OLG is a South African jurist and former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa.
Du Toit and Another v Minister for Welfare and Population Development and Others is a decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa which granted same-sex couples the ability to jointly adopt children. LGBT people had already been able to adopt children individually,but only married couples could adopt jointly;the decision was handed down in September 2002,four years before same-sex marriage became legal in South Africa. The court ruled unanimously that the statutory provisions limiting joint adoption to married couples were unconstitutional,and the resulting order amended the law to treat same-sex partners in the same way as married couples.
Mogoeng Thomas Reetsang Mogoeng is a South African jurist who served as the Chief Justice of South Africa from 8 September 2011 until his retirement on 11 October 2021.
South African family law is concerned with those legal rules in South Africa which pertain to familial relationships. It may be defined as "that subdivision of material private law which researches,describes and regulates the origin,contents and dissolution of all legal relationships between:(i) husband and wife;(ii) parents,guardians and children;and (iii) relatives related through blood and affinity."
"As far as family law is concerned,we in South Africa have it all. We have every kind of family;extended families,nuclear families,one-parent families,same-sex families,and in relation to each one of these there are controversy,difficulties and cases coming before the courts or due to come before the courts. This is the result of ancient history and recent history [...]. Our families are suffused with history,as family law is suffused with history,culture,belief and personality. For researchers it's a paradise,for judges a purgatory."
Bhe and Others v Magistrate,Khayelitsha and Others;Shibi v Sithole and Others;SA Human Rights Commission and Another v President of the RSA and Another was an important case in South African customary law.
Kruger v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others is an important case in South African law,heard in the Constitutional Court (CC) on 19 February 2008,with judgment handed down on 2 October. The judges were Langa CJ,O'Regan ADCJ,Madala J,Mokgoro J,Ngcobo J,Nkabinde J,Skweyiya J,Van Der Westhuizen J,Yacoob J,Jafta AJ and Kroon AJ. Counsel for the applicant was Geoff Budlender. There was no appearance for the first respondent,but Wim Trengove SC appeared for the second and for the third respondent. The applicant's attorneys were Kruger &Co.;the State Attorney represented the second respondent,while the third respondent's attorneys were Brugmans Inc.
Christopher Nyaole Jafta is a retired judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
K v Minister of Safety and Security is an important case in the South African law of delict and South African constitutional law. It was heard by the Constitutional Court on May 10,2005,with judgment handed down on June 13. Langa CJ,Moseneke DCJ,Madala J,Mokgoro J,O'Regan J,Sachs J,Skweyiya J,Van der Westhuizen J and Yacoob J presided. W. Trengove SC appeared for the applicant;PF Louw SC appeared for the respondent. The applicant's counsel was instructed by the Women's Legal Centre,Cape Town. The respondent's attorney was the State Attorney,Johannesburg.
Mbuyiseli "Russell" Madlanga is a judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa,having been appointed on 1 August 2013.
The Khayelitsha Commission,also known as the O'Regan/Pikoli Commission,was a commission of inquiry appointed by Premier of the Western Cape Helen Zille to investigate allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha and the breakdown in relations between the Khayelitsha community and the police. The commissioners are former Constitutional Court Justice Kate O'Regan and former National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli.
In South African National Defence Union v Minister of Defence and Others,an important case in South African labour law,the Constitutional Court gave judgment on a series of disputes connected to collective bargaining that had arisen between the South African National Defence Union (SANDU) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
Dawood and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Others;Shalabi and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Others;Thomas and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Others is an important decision in South African constitutional law and immigration law. It was delivered in the Constitutional Court of South Africa on 7 June 2000. In a unanimous judgment written by Justice Kate O'Regan,the court held that the constitutional right to dignity contained implicit protections for the right to family life and the institution of marriage.
Nomzamo Zondo is a South African attorney,specialising in human rights. Since July 2014,Zondo has been the Director of Litigation for the Socio-Economic Rights Institute for South Africa (SERI). In 2020,Zondo became executive director for SERI.
Wim Trengove SC is a South African advocate best known for his role in constitutional litigation. He has argued various administrative law,constitutional law,and human rights law matters in the Constitutional Court of South Africa,including several high-profile political cases.
DE v RH is a decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa in the law of delict. The court abolished the third-party delictual claim for adultery,holding unanimously that society's contemporary boni mores indicated that the act of adultery by a third party lacks wrongfulness and therefore does not give rise to delictual liability. The judgment was handed down without papers on 19 June 2015 and was written by Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga,with a separate concurrence by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
↑ S v Bhulwana, S v Gwadiso(1995) ZACC 11; 1996 (1) SA 388 (CC).
↑ Premier, Province of Mpumalanga and Another v Executive Committee of the Association of Governing Bodies of State Aided Schools: Eastern Transvaal(1998) ZACC 20; 1999 (2) SA 91 (CC).
↑ Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education of the Government of the Eastern Cape Province and Another v Ed-U-College (PE) (Section21)(2000) ZACC 23; 2001 (2) SA 1 (CC).
↑ Dawood and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Others; Shalabi and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Others; Thomas and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Others(2000) ZACC 8; 2000 (3) SA 936 (CC).
↑ Bato Star Fishing (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Others(2004) ZACC 15; 2004 (4) SA 490 (CC).
↑ African Christian Democratic Party v Electoral Commission and Others(2006) ZACC 1; 2006 (3) SA 305 (CC).
↑ Richter v The Minister for Home Affairs and Others (with the Democratic Alliance and Others Intervening, and with Afriforum and Another as Amici Curiae)(2009) ZACC 3; 2009 (3) SA 615 (CC).
↑ National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa and Others v Bader Bop (Pty) Ltd and Another(2002) ZACC 30; 2003 (3) SA 513 (CC).
↑ Fredericks and Others v MEC for Education and Training, Eastern Cape and Others(2001) ZACC 6; 2002 (2) SA 693 (CC).
↑ Chirwa v Transnet Limited and Others(2007) ZACC 23; 2008 (4) SA 367 (CC).
↑ Gcaba v Minister for Safety and Security and Others(2009) ZACC 26; 2010 (1) SA 238 (CC).
↑ Fagan, Anton (2009). "The confusions of K". South African Law Journal. 126.
↑ Wagener, Stephen (2008). "K v Minister of Safety and Security and the increasingly blurred line between personal and vicarious liability". South African Law Journal. 125.
↑ F v Minister of Safety and Security and Another(2011) ZACC 37; 2012 (1) SA 536 (CC).
↑ H v Fetal Assessment Centre(2014) ZACC 34; 2015 (2) SA 193 (CC).
↑ Steenkamp NO v Provincial Tender Board of the Eastern Cape(2006) ZACC 16; 2007 (3) SA 121 (CC).
↑ Prinsloo v Van der Linde and Another(1997) ZACC 5; 1997 (3) SA 1012 (CC).
↑ Satchwell v President of the Republic of South Africa and Another(2003) ZACC 2; 2003 (4) SA 266 (CC).
↑ Minister of Home Affairs and Another v Fourie and Another(2005) ZACC 19; 2006 (1) SA 524 (CC).
↑ S v Jordan and Others (Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force and Others as Amici Curiae)(2002) ZACC 22; 2002 (6) SA 642 (CC).
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