Supreme Court of South Africa

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The Supreme Court of South Africa was a superior court of law in South Africa from 1910 to 1997. It was made up of various provincial and local divisions with jurisdiction over specific geographical areas, and an Appellate Division which was the highest appellate court in the country. [1]

Contents

The Supreme Court of South Africa was dissolved in 1997 when the current Constitution of South Africa came into force. The provincial and local divisions, as well as the supreme courts of the former TBVC states ("Bantustans"), became separate High Courts, while the Appellate Division became the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). The High Courts were subsequently restructured by the Superior Courts Act, 2013 into nine provincial divisions of a single High Court of South Africa. The SCA is no longer the highest court because it is subordinate to the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court.

History

The Supreme Court was created by the South Africa Act 1909 when the Union of South Africa was formed. The Supreme Courts of the four former colonies (the Cape Colony, the Transvaal Colony, the Orange River Colony and the Natal Colony) became provincial divisions of the Supreme Court. The Court of the Eastern Districts and the High Court of Griqualand, both in the Cape, and the High Court of the Witwatersrand in the Transvaal became local divisions under their respective provincial divisions. [2] A new Appellate Division, headed by the Chief Justice of South Africa, was created to hear appeals from the provincial and local divisions.

Until 1950 there was a right of appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, which was terminated under the terms of the Privy Council Appeals Act, 1950 - which was enacted under the government of D.F. Malan, Prime Minister of South Africa from 1948 to 1954.

In 1957, the Eastern Cape Local Division was elevated to provincial status, and in 1969 the Griqualand West Local Division was similarly elevated, becoming the Northern Cape Provincial Division. Over time, two new local divisions were created: the Durban & Coast Local Division under the Natal Provincial Division, and the South Eastern Cape Local Division under the Eastern Cape Provincial Division. During the apartheid era, the Supreme Court of South Africa lost jurisdiction over the quasi-independent bantustans (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) which created their own Supreme Courts.

The Interim Constitution which came into force in 1994 kept the existing structure of the Supreme Court, but absorbed the Supreme Courts of the bantustans as provincial divisions. The final South African constitution which came into force in 1997 transformed the Appellate Division into the Supreme Court of Appeal, and the provincial and local divisions into High Courts.

Divisions

The South Africa Act had created the Appellate Division, and renamed the existing courts of the colonies as follows:

Subsequent changes to the divisions were as follows:

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References

  1. ↑ Barratt, Amanda; Snyman, Pamela (1 October 2002). "Researching South African Law". LLRX. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  2. ↑ South Africa Act, 1909, 9 Edw. VII c. 9, sec. 98.
  3. ↑ Supreme Court Act 59 of 1959
  4. ↑ Supreme Court of South West Africa Proclamation 222 of 1981
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