Law Multidisciplinary
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Browsing Law Multidisciplinary by Author "Freedman, David Warren."
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Item Religion and the law: Exploring the boundaries between the right to equality based on sexual orientation and religious freedom.(2023) Easthorpe, Juanitha Anne.; Strode, Ann Elaine.; Freedman, David Warren.The intersection of religion and law remains complex. It is not simple to find a solution to an issue that falls within the realm of this area. The right to freedom of religion and equality are constitutionally protected and sometimes these two constitutional rights become competing fundamental human rights. The religious injunction against same-sex marriage is an issue which falls squarely within the complexity of religion and law. With both equality and freedom of religion at odds with each other, it becomes important to balance these rights. This cannot be done without acknowledging the fact that religion has always featured predominantly in our past and influenced many aspects of our lives. However, our history of past discrimination directed at vulnerable groups must also be acknowledged. It is for this reason that this thesis examined the legal soundness of the injunction against samesex marriage in some Christian denominations. With our constitutional objective being to bring about a cohesive society, a strong presumption in favour of equality must be considered. On this basis the thesis found that the religious injunction against same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and therefore legally unsound. In dealing with these matters our courts need to approach the issue sensitively by considering transformative remedies without criminal sanctions. It is for this reason that the thesis also attempted to identify the most appropriate litigation strategy that affected parties can rely on when challenging the injunction against same-sex marriage. The Equality court was deemed the most appropriate forum for resolving disputes between religious denominations and their LGBTQI+ congregants. The transformative remedies which the court will consider are potentially available in the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000. Transformative remedies are in principle more acceptable to religious denominations as they refrain from interfering with the core doctrinal beliefs of the church but also allow these religious denominations the time to review their policies and motivate for change. It also minimises the possibility of a split in the church and adheres to the doctrine of constitutional subsidiarity.Item The organic development of a legal writing and tutoring programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Law: Reflections on a sustainable, structured approach to teaching and tutoring legal writing in South African law schools.(2022) Crocker, Angela Diane.; Strode, Ann Elaine.; Freedman, David Warren.Although much advocacy work takes place in courts, a considerable amount of the background work and day-to-day tasks of lawyers is writing and clearly articulating various legal positions. Thus, the ability to write like a lawyer is very important. However, legal academics as well as the law profession have consistently made the point that there is a real issue with the quality of legal writing of law students. This is a problem that many South African Universities are grappling with, and which must be addressed urgently. An examination of the literature, through the lens of four iterations of legal writing programmes implemented at the University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Law, Howard College, shows that the key drivers of good legal writing are critical thinking and student motivation. If these principles are incorporated into the structure of the programme, it will help students to be motivated to think critically, which will enable them to engage on a sufficiently deep level with the material being studied. This in turn should help to produce written work that is persuasive. Thus, it is submitted that the design of a legal writing programme should include four teaching principles: the constructive alignment of the programme; a commitment to learner participation; the implementation of conversations in feedback; and the transformative contextualisation of programme materials. However, the real question is how can a sustainable, structured approach to teaching and tutoring legal writing in South African law schools be achieved with large classes of novice legal writers and legal lecturers sometimes having overwhelming teaching loads and competing academic commitments? It may seem like an impossible task, but it is not if the legal writing programme is pedagogically well-designed and administratively well-structured. This thesis submits that the answer lies in training senior law student peer tutors to assist in a legal writing programme.