LAW SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA

Raj Daya : Office of the CEO: LSSA

31 JULY 2007

SUBMISSIONS AND RESPONSE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE JURISDICTION OF THE REGIONAL COURT AMENDMENT BILL

1. INTRODUCTION

a. The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) supports in principle the proposed amendments

b. The LSSA recommends that proper training and civil court exposure is afforded to the presiding judicial officers

c. The LSSA also believes that the legal profession has many competent and experienced attorneys with sufficient civil law experience, that can take appointment, in order to give effect to the amendments being sought and thereby adding value to the judiciary

d. Whilst we support the increased jurisdiction, the problem lies with the infrastructure of the courts being inadequate to deal with the increase

e. If the courts are not physically able to deal with the increased jurisdiction, the result will be to erode access to the courts and disadvantage litigants

f. There is a desperate shortage of trained civil court magistrates particularly with the required qualifications to be regional court magistrates

g. The geographical demarcations of jurisdiction of the courts will also have to be attended to.

Raj Daya CEO -LSSA