I spent some time contemplating what you might find particularly interesting about the history of the Waterfront, until I learnt that many of you are staying at hotels on Portswood Road, and that the conference itself is at the Breakwater campus of the University of Cape Town (UCT.) This persuaded me to use the history of the crenellated building that dominates Portswood Ridge, and forms the heart of the UCT Business School campus, to talk about a number of important themes in the history of the country you have chosen for your latest conference. Just over one hundred years ago, that building came into existence as The Industrial Breakwater Prison. It was an addition to the original convict station that lay further down Portswood Road towards the sea. There are perhaps four particularly important ways in which this building, and its surrounding area, were connected to significant moments or processes in South Africa's past: the development of Cape Town's harbor, colonial conquest and resistance, the development of a diamond industry and, yes, the origins of apartheid. How so?

It is more than ten years since our new constitutional era dawned, and nearly ten years since the Constitutional Court was established. It is a fitting time then to reflect upon those first ten years: what have been the achievements, and what challenges remain for the future.

In September 2004 the Law Library of Congress unveiled a suite of enhanced navigation, search, language, accessibility, and user-friendly features to support broad public use of the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN). Placing this standard-setting achievement in the larger context of the Law Library's continuing commitment to acquiring, processing, and disseminating legal information on a global scale, the legal research community will benefit from an overview of the initiatives, principles, and processes that combined to shape the system for maximum accessibility and uncompromising reliability.

In January 1672, nearly twenty years after the Dutch East India Company had established an outpost at Africa's Cape of Good Hope, a case was adjudicated by the rudimentary local judicial body, the Council of Justice, the significance of which was evident even then. The facts were simple. Members of the indigenous population were accused of having robbed and assaulted European servants of the Company. The legal question before the Council, however, was an intricate one. Did it have jurisdiction over the accused and could it apply to them the same law as would have been applied if the roles of perpetrator and victim had been reversed? The prosecutor successfully urged an affirmative answer. Citingthe Roman Emperor Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis, he argued that: “Since the law of nature is implanted in all reasonable creatures, the Hottentots cannot be excluded therefrom. They are consequently subject to the law of nature and therefore also the law of nations …”

Twenty years ago in 1983, three seemingly disparate events were to have a dramatic impact on law, politics and social transformation in our country. Ten years later, in April 1993, a political event dramatically signaled a change in the legal landscape forever. Or so we hope.

First of all, I would like to thank Holger Knudsen, a good old friend, for this invitation. It is very important for us Brazilians to get an opportunity to talk about our new Civil Code, since it has been harshly criticized for its bad sides and warmly praised for its good ones. I also would like to thank the Law Librarians’ Discussion Group, which has organized this event, and you for your presence and interest in this subject.

MERCOSUR is the world's fourth largest trade area, considering its economic importance. It was established by the Asuncion Treaty, signed on March 26, 1991. On January 1, 1995, a Customs Union was established between the four member countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Socio-economic rights are those human rights that aim to secure for all members of a particular society a basic quality of life in terms of food, water, shelter, education, health care and housing. They differ from traditional civil and political rights such as the right to equality, personal liberty, property, free speech and association. These “traditional human rights” are now found in most democratic constitutions and are, as a rule, enshrined in a Bill of Rights; which is that part of the Constitution that is normally enforced through mechanisms such as judicial review. The victims of the violation of such rights have a legal remedy. Individual freedom is a primary value underpinning civil and political rights.

This paper briefly discusses the transformation of the customary law of marriage in South Africa by the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998 Act (hereafter referred to as the Act), and the likely challenges of implementing the new law. The latter will be demonstrated by reference to section 7 of the Act, which regulates the matrimonial property.

Both theoretically and constitutionally, South Africa is a secular state with many religious and non-religious groupings co-existing with each other. The reality is that there is widespread observance of both religious and customary law — despite a lack of or limited recognition thereof under the apartheid government. The non-recognition of other forms of law in South Africa has had negative consequences and the remedial efforts of the present government is visible both in the area of customary law and also Muslim Personal Law, hereinafter referred to as MPL. This paper will confine itself to discussing the law reform efforts in respect of the recognition of Muslim marriages.