High Courts of South Africa

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A crowd outside the Johannesburg High Court during the Jacob Zuma rape trial.

The High Courts are superior courts of law in South Africa. The courts were created in 1997 on the adoption of the Constitution of South Africa, and inherited the jurisdiction of the provincial and local divisions of the former Supreme Court of South Africa. High Courts have general jurisdiction over defined geographical areas in which they are situated, and the decisions of the High Courts are binding on magistrates' courts within their areas of jurisdiction. The High Courts have jurisdiction over all matters in their geographical area, but they usually only hear civil matters involving more than 100,000 rand, and serious criminal cases. They also hear any appeals or reviews from lower courts (magistrates’ courts) which fall in their geographical jurisdiction. The High Courts usually hear any matter involving a person’s status (for example, adoption, insolvency).

Important officers in a High Court

Each High Court is headed by a Judge President. The registrar keeps all the official court documents. The family advocate must be consulted on all matters involving children, as the High Court is the "upper guardian" of all children in South Africa. The Master of the High Court keeps all the records relating to people’s estates (deceased or insolvent). The Sheriff delivers certain documents to the parties in a civil case, and also attaches property when a warrant is issued. The Director of Public Prosecutions, who used to be called the Attorney-General, is responsible for criminal prosecutions by the state. The State Attorney is the lawyer who represents the state in civil actions (where the state is suing or being sued).

Divisions

There are thirteen High Courts at present. The Renaming of High Courts Act, 2008 replaced the old apartheid-era names of the divisions.^[1]

Restructuring

The "Superior Courts Bill" was reintroduced to Parliament in June 2011. The bill will restructure the High Courts into a single High Court of South Africa divided into nine divisions, one for each province. In provinces which currently have multiple high courts, one will become the main seat of the division with jurisdiction over the whole province, and the others will become local seats with concurrent jurisdiction over some part of the province. The divisions and seats to be established under the bill are as follows:

Until the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Divisions are established, the Gauteng Division will act in their place, with circuit courts being held at Polokwane and Nelspruit.

Circuit Court

Circuit Courts are also part of the High Court. They sit at least twice a year, moving around to serve more rural areas.

References

Superior Courts of South Africa Appellate courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal High Courts Eastern Cape (Grahamstown, Mthatha, Bhisho, Port Elizabeth) Free State North Gauteng South Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg, Durban) Limpopo North West Northern Cape Western Cape Specialist courts Labour Court Labour Appeal Court Land Claims Court Competition Appeal Court Electoral Court Judiciary of South Africa Law of South Africa Department of Justice and Constitutional Development