Governance Model for the Judiciary of the Republic of South Africa

The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) sought assistance in developing a report to inform possible constitutional reforms against the backdrop of the 30th anniversary of constitutional democracy in South Africa. The purpose of the project is to undertake comparative research on judiciary-led court administration and judicial governance in comparative jurisdictions. This report seeks to assist CASAC in developing a position paper on reforming the governance of the South African judiciary with a view to proposing a judiciary-led model for court administration. This report explores how courts, particularly apex courts, are administered in several jurisdictions. These jurisdictions were selected in conjunction with CASAC to have a global overview of the different models of court administration. The jurisdictions explored in this report are Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, the United Kingdom (‘UK’), the United States of America (‘US’), and Singapore. The project hasfocused mostly on the apex courts (Constitutional, Supreme, or High Courts) and in federalist countries we have primarily focused on the highest federal courts.