The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established in South Africa after the collapse of apartheid, was the bold creation of a people committed to the task of rebuilding a nation and establishing a society founded upon justice, equality and respect for the rule of law. As part of its historic, cathartic mission, the TRC held a special hearing, calling to account the lawyers – judges, academics and members of the bar – who had been crucial participants in the apartheid legal order. This book is an account of those hearings, and an attempt to evaluate, in the light of the theories of adjudication, the historical role of the judiciary and bar in the apartheid years.Written by a well-known commentator on the South African legal system, this book reflects the spectacle of an entire legal system on trial and will appeal to all readers – lawyers and non-lawyers alike – interested in the relationship between law and justice, as it is exposed during a period of transition to democracy.

Contents Include:

• Truth, memory and the rule of law
• Judicial dilemmas: tales of (dis)empowerment
• Memory’s struggle
• The politics of the rule of law

Of Interest and Benefit to:

• Lawyers
• Historians
• Libraries