Chapter 8: Courts and Administration of Justice
CHAPTER 8
couRtS And AdminiStRAtion of JuStice
Judicial authority
165.
(1) The judicial authority of the Republic is vested in the courts.
(2) The courts are independent and subject only to the Constitution and the law, which
they must apply impartially and without fear, favour or prejudice.
(3) � No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the
courts.
(4) � Organs of state, through legislative and other measures, must assist and protect
the courts to ensure the independence, impartiality, dignity, accessibility and
effectiveness of the courts.
(5) � An order or decision issued by a court binds all persons to whom and organs of state
to which it applies.
(6) � The Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary and exercises responsibility over the
establishment and monitoring of norms and standards for the exercise of the
judicial functions of all courts.
[Sub-s (6) added by s. 1 of the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act of 2012.]
Judicial system
166.
The courts are—
(a) the Constitutional Court;
(b) � the Supreme Court of Appeal;
(c) the High Court of South Africa, and any high court of appeal that may be established
by an Act of Parliament to hear appeals from any court of a status similar to the High
Court of South Africa;
(d) the Magistrates’ Courts; and
(e) any other court established or recognised in terms of an Act of Parliament,
including any court of a status similar to either the High Court of South Africa or the
Magistrates’ Courts.
[Sub-s (c) and (e) substituted by s. 2 of the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act of 2012.]
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