The procedural management of constitutional issues in criminal trials in a future South Africa

This report concerns the implementation of a bill of rights in the South African criminal justice system. A bill of rights will have a pervasive impact on all aspects of a criminal trial, from the magistrate's courts to the provincial and appellate divisions of the Supreme Court. At present presiding judicial officers are not experienced in dealing with constitutional matters which come to the fore in criminal trials, mainly because there has, to date, been no need for them to consider the philosophy and practice underlying the application of a bill of rights. Soon however all legal practitioners in the 'new south Africa' will have to take account of comparative constitutional law. Presiding judicial officers will have to examine the rules of evidence and procedure critically in the light of human rights law and be able to re-interpret statutes with the bill of rights in mind, abandoning the old 'intention of the legislature' as sole or main principle when interpreting statutes.