Alan Dodson
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Alan Dodson
Alan Christopher Dodson SC (born 10 July 1960) is a South African lawyer who was a judge of the Land Claims Court from 1995 to 2000. He was also the chairperson of the United Nations's Housing and Property Claims Commission in Kosovo from 2000 to 2007. A member of the Johannesburg Bar since 2001 and Senior Counsel since 2011, he formerly practised as an attorney between 1987 and 1995. Dodson was an acting judge in the Constitutional Court in 2023. In 2022, he was unsuccessfully nominated for permanent appointment to that court. Early life and education Dodson was born on 10 July 1960 in Manzini, Swaziland. After attending primary school in Malkerns, Swaziland, he went on to Clifton Preparatory School in South Africa's Natal Province and matriculated at St Alban's College in 1977. He attended the University of Natal's Pietermaritzburg campus, where he completed a BComm in 1982 and LLB cum laude in 1984. Thereafter he attended the University of Cambridge, receiving an L ...
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Land Claims Court
Land court or land claims court is a type of court which is charged with dealings over cases involving land titles and for disputes between landlords and tenants relating to agricultural tenancies. The exact field of jurisdiction varies by country. Africa The Land Claims Court of the Republic of South Africa was established in 1995 and has the same status as the High Courts of that country. The court specializes in hearing disputes that arise out of laws that underpin South Africa's land reform initiative. These are the Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994, the Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act, 1996 and the Extension of Security of Tenure Act, 1997. This is in line with the South African Constitution which gave people and communities who had been dispossessed of land after 19 June 1913 as a result of racially discriminatory laws or practices the right to restitution of that property or to fair compensation. The Court also fulfils an important function in reviewing certain decisio ...
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Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King Dingane's royal homestead uMgungundlovu. Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg and is often informally abbreviated to PMB. It is a regionally-important industrial hub, producing aluminium, timber and dairy products, and is the main economic hub of Umgungundlovu District Municipality, uMgungundlovu District Municipality. The public sector is a major employer in the city due to local, district and provincial government offices located here. The city has many schools and tertiary education institutions, including a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It had a population of 228,549 in 1991; the current population is estimated at over 600,000 residents (including neighbouring townships) and is a melting pot of different culture ...
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Public Law
Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct concern to society. Public law comprises constitutional law, administrative law, tax law and criminal law, as well as all procedural law. Laws concerning relationships between individuals belong to private law. The relationships public law governs are asymmetric and unequalized. Government bodies (central or local) can make decisions about the rights of persons. However, as a consequence of the rule-of-law doctrine, authorities may only act within the law (''secundum et intra legem''). The government must obey the law. For example, a citizen unhappy with a decision of an administrative authority can ask a court for judicial review. The distinction between public law and private law dates back to Roman law, where the R ...
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Administrative Law
Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), adjudication, and the enforcement of laws. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law. Administrative law deals with the decision-making of administrative units of government that are part of the executive branch in such areas as international trade, manufacturing, the environment, taxation, broadcasting, immigration, and transport. Administrative law expanded greatly during the 20th century, as legislative bodies worldwide created more government agencies to regulate the social, economic and political spheres of human interaction. Civil law countries often have specialized administrative courts that review these decisions. In the last fifty years, administrative law, in many countries of the civil law tradition, ...
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Advocates In South Africa
An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, in Scottish, Manx, South African, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Scandinavian, Polish, Israeli, South Asian and South American jurisdictions, "advocate" indicates a lawyer of superior classification. "Advocate" is in some languages an honorific for lawyers, such as " Adv. Sir Alberico Gentili". "Advocate" also has the everyday meaning of speaking out to help someone else, such as patient advocacy or the support expected from an elected politician; this article does not cover those senses. Europe United Kingdom and Crown dependencies England and Wales In England and Wales, Advocates and proctors practiced civil law in the Admiralty Courts and also, but in England only, in the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of Engl ...
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Public Interest Law
Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms ( ''pro bono publico''), often in the fields of civil rights, civil liberties, religious liberty, human rights, women's rights, consumer rights, environmental protection, and so on. In a celebrated 1905 speech, Louis Brandeis decried the legal profession, complaining that "able lawyers have to a large extent allowed themselves to become adjuncts of great corporations and have neglected their obligation to use their powers for the protection of the people." In the tradition thus exemplified, a common ethic for public-interest lawyers in a growing number of countries remains "fighting for the little guy".Scott L. Cummings & Ingrid V. Eagly, After Public Interest Law, NWU L. Rev. 1251, 1251-1259, 2075-2077(2006) By jurisdiction Central and Eastern Europe At the end of the communi ...
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Attorneys In South Africa
In South Africa, Career guide to the legal profession in South Africa
lssa.org.za
Attorneys are who provide and representation to clients, aiding individuals and businesses in their legal dealings, and as required, handling
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Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest city by population, after Johannesburg, and the largest city in the Western Cape. The city is part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality. The city is known for Port of Cape Town, its harbour, its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for landmarks such as Table Mountain and Cape Point. In 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by ''The New York Times'', and was similarly ranked number one by ''The Daily Telegraph'' in both 2016 and 2023. Located on the shore of Table Bay, the City Bowl area of Cape Town, which contains its Cape Town CBD, central business district (CBD), is History of Cape Town, the oldest urban area in the Western Cape, with a signi ...
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Webber Wentzel
Webber Wentzel is an African law firm headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. The firm operates in a collaborative alliance with global law firm, Linklaters. The firm is considered a member of the "Big Five law firms (South Africa), Big Five law firms" of leading South African law firms. The firm is a level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) contributor. History Webber Wentzel was founded in 1869 and is the only large South African law firm to retain a traditional partnership organisation and not incorporate into a limited liability company. In 1869, Bruce Wayne starts a law practice in Eastern Cape. In 1904, Edward Solomon goes into partnership with Henry Charles Hull, Walter Webber, Charles Wentzel and Webber Wentzel. In 1918, Webber & Wentzel amalgamates with Hudson & Frames to become Webber Wentzel Solomon & Friel. In 1972, Webber Wentzel Hofmeyr Turnbull and Co merges with Dumat Pitts & Blaine. In 1967, The Maitland Group, a fund administrator and fid ...
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Township (South Africa)
In South Africa, the terms township and location usually refers to an underdevelopment, under-developed, racial segregation, racially segregated urban area, urban area, from the late 19th century until the end of apartheid, were reserved for non-whites, namely Bantu peoples in South Africa, Black Africans, Coloureds and South African Indians, Indians. Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities. The term ''township'' also has a distinct #Legal meaning, legal meaning in South African property law, South Africa's system of land title, which carries no racial connotations. Townships for non-whites were also called ''locations'' or ''lokasies'' in Afrikaans and are often still referred to as such in the smaller towns. The slang term "kasie / kasi", a popular short version of "lokasie" is also used. Townships sometimes have large shanty town, informal settlements nearby. History Early development During 1900–1950 (roughly), the majority of the black popu ...
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Court-martial
A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment. In addition, courts-martial may be used to try prisoners of war for war crimes. The Geneva Conventions require that POWs who are on trial for war crimes be subject to the same procedures as would be the holding military's own forces. Finally, courts-martial can be convened for other purposes, such as dealing with violations of martial law, and can involve civilian defendants. Most navies have a standard court-martial which convenes whenever a ship is lost; this does not presume that the captain is suspected of wrongdoing, but merely that the circumstances surrounding the loss of the ship be made part of the official record. Most military ...
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South African Defence Force
The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Force was officially succeeded by the SADF, which was established by the Defence Act (No. 44) of 1957. The SADF, in turn, was superseded by the South African National Defence Force in 1994. Mission and structure The SADF was organised to perform a dual mission: to counter possible insurgency in all forms, and to maintain a conventional military arm which could defend the republic's borders, making retaliatory strikes as necessary. As the military expanded during the 1970s, the SADF general staff was organised into six sections—finance, intelligence, logistics, operations, personnel, and planning; uniquely, the South African Medical Service (SAMS) was made co-equal with the South African Army, the South African Navy and the South Africa ...
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