Download this publication - PULP

5 Reply
On the reach of the Constitution and the
nature of constitutional jurisdiction:
A reply to Frank Michelman 1
Justice Kate O’Regan
1 Introduction
Thank you for the invitation to participate in this discussion. I would
like to preface my remarks by complimenting the editors and authors
on the publication of the second edition of Constitutional Law of
South Africa. As somebody engaged daily with research on constitutional
law in South Africa, I can say that this text is always useful
and so I am delighted that a new edition has been published. I am sure
it will enrich the quality of research and debate on constitutional law.
I would particularly like to record my gratitude to the authors and
editors, as I know a text of this sort is very labour intensive; and that
extraordinarily long hours are worked for little material reward. I am
sure I speak on behalf of many of us here in offering our appreciation
of those efforts.
1 This response was offered in response to Professor Michelman’s original Chapter
in CLoSA. See F Michelman ‘The rule of law, legality and the supremacy of the
Constitution’ in S Woolman et al (eds) Constitutional Law of South Africa (2nd
Edition, OS, 2005) Chapter 11, available at www.westlaw.com. This text is based
on a transcript of the remarks I made on the first evening of Constitutional Law
of South Africa Public Lecture Series (March 2006). I have merely edited and
clarified those remarks. I have chosen this course, partly due to time constraints,
and partly in a choice to record the remarks I actually made. That means, of
course, that I have not supplemented that transcript to include comments on
Professor Michelman’s revised speech published in this volume.
63