Overhaul of court rules: Mogoeng

Archaic rules in South African courts will be overhauled to increase access to justice, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said on Thursday.

 

"The leadership of the judiciary have resolved to begin a massive project of overhauling all the rules of the high courts and magistrate's courts," he said. "This process will help us to do away with archaic rules, progress and efficiency-retarding rules... This certainly will facilitate access to justice."

 

He was speaking at the annual human rights law lecture in Stellenbosch. When rules of law were easy to understand, lay-people who could read and write were able to represent themselves meaningfully in a court. The judge used the example of "user-friendly" United States court rules, where he witnessed a second-year engineering student successfully defend himself against a trained lawyer."Our rules are a bit difficult even for lawyers to understand," he said, to laughter. Mogoeng said one could use simple language without compromising the content of such rules.

 

- Sapa