12 - A Towering but Modest Judicial Figure: The Case of Arthur Chaskalson

Summary

Arthur Chaskalson was appointed by President Nelson Mandela in 1994 as the first head of the newly created Constitutional Court of South Africa. As a consequence of his distinguished record as a leading human rights practitioner during the dark days of apartheid, he brought both moral and intellectual stature to the leadership of the new apex Court. During the decade of his leadership, the Court fashioned a coherent body of jurisprudence that gave meaningful content to a constitutional text that was passed into law in 1996. He was the social leader of the Court, ensuring that it became a cohesive and efficient institution for the vindication of constitutional rights. At the same time, from its inception, he was the intellectual leader of the Court. This was first evident in his judgment in S v Makwanyane (1995) in which he developed a new legal paradigm for constitutional adjudication in a decision that declared the death penalty to be unconstitutional.