Redressing Spatial Apartheid: The Law of Nuisance and the Transformative Role of Social Utility and the Right to the City

by | Oct 21, 2019 | SALJ, SALJ V133 I2 2016

Redressing Spatial Apartheid: The Law of Nuisance and the Transformative Role of Social Utility and the Right to the City

Authors Thomas Coggin

ISSN: 1996-2177
Affiliations: Lecturer, School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand
Source: South African Law Journal, Volume 133 Issue 2, 2016, p. 434 – 451

Abstract

Social utility is an often underused concept in the law of nuisance, and yet is one that is able to infuse the law of nuisance with a dose of spatial equality. The right to the city is an idea that has at its core the need for meaningful access to the city. All citizens therefore are able to share in the fullness of what the city offers; to inhabit the city and share in its spaces and spoils; to be present in and experience the city; and to imagine the city, its form, meaning and operation through the practices of daily life. Increasingly, however, cities are being constructed along a neo-liberal paradigm, which prioritises private property over the public, denying and excluding many on the basis of their (lack of) wealth. The law of nuisance provides for remedies which aim principally to protect the use and enjoyment of private property vis-\xc3\xa0-vis other property owners. Traditionally, then, it has been interpreted within a predominantly propertied narrative, which has the effect of not only enforcing and perpetuating a propertied marginalisation of people in the city, but also has limited a normative understanding of the city and its socio-spatial dynamics to specifically the relationship between private property owners. This article seeks, first, to understand how the law of nuisance can be understood and developed within the context of social utility and the right to the city. Secondly, it looks at three cases that demonstrate the need to incorporate an understanding of social utility and the right to the city. I conclude that this is a necessary development of the law of nuisance because of the way it can redress the negative ramifications of spatial apartheid.

The Need for an International Trade Tribunal

by | Oct 21, 2019 | SALJ, SALJ V133 I2 2016

The Need for an International Trade Tribunal

Authors Gustav Brink, Corlia van Heerden

ISSN: 1996-2177
Affiliations: Extraordinary Lecturer in Mercantile Law, University of Pretoria; Professor in Mercantile Law, University of Pretoria
Source: South African Law Journal, Volume 133 Issue 2, 2016, p. 409 – 433

Abstract

South Africa has both a National Consumer Commission and a National Consumer Tribunal. It also has both a Competition Commission and a Competition Tribunal. The courts have pleaded for a Customs Tribunal to be created to address challenges against findings related to customs matters. However, there is currently an International Trade Administration Commission, but no International Trade Tribunal. This article considers the significant interaction between competition law and international trade law, specifically anti-dumping law, including the use of like wording in the Competition Act and the International Trade Administration Act. Through an exposition of the procedures applied by both the Competition Commission and the International Trade Administration Commission, the article considers the importance of the Competition Tribunal and proposes that an International Trade Tribunal should be created to review and hear appeals against decisions of the Trade Commission, in line with South Africa’s obligations under the World Trade Organization’s Anti-Dumping Agreement.