The Law in Context

I agree wholeheartedly with the proposition that the law and legal institutions cannot be divorced from the value system of the society in which it operates. This is evident in that the single entity to which all law in South Africa is subject (the Constitution) is based, almost entirely on the ideals and values of what is seen to be the South African public. In the first provision stated in the Constitution, it is given that the Republic of South Africa is "...one sovereign, democratic state founded on the values of human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights." In other words, ideally, every single law in South Africa may not infringe on the above rights vested in them by the Constitution. This means that the law is subject to, essentially, the voice of the people and to the values with which the majority of people deem to be veritable. It is evident in South Africa's turbulent history that the law and legal institutions are directly based upon the value systems of the society at the time as it is today.…