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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All posts tagged under »common purpose«
Why the law is so often an ass
July 27, 2012
The controversial medical parole of South Africa's former top cop, Jackie Selebi, has once again thrown into stark relief questions about kidney disease and treatment, questions that have long disturbed the labour movement. Over the years nothing has changed: it is the size of a bank balance, sometimes the level of powerful connections, that determines whether a chronically ill person lives or dies.
The Concourt, the military and arson
May 7, 2011
A 12-year-old case of arson in the SA Navy, based on the controversial doctrine of common purpose, finally makes its way to South Africa's Constitutional Court. The result should have considerable impact, both within and outside the military.
Terry Bell Writes 
Why the law is often an ass
July 27, 2012
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“Then the law is an ass,” said Mr Bumble in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist when he was told that the law considered his wife to act under his direction. Few truer words have been said — or written. Because the law, that body of regulations that can shelter stupidity, pedantry, vindictiveness and sheer bloody-mindedness behind the veil of justice, is very frequently an ass.