Beginner’s Guide for Law Students 6ed

Students are introduced to the law as it stands, in accessible terms, with reference to the different sources of law and popular media, to demonstrate how law affects the everyday lives of individuals and groups in South Africa. Without detracting from the book’s accessibility, students are made aware of law’s complexity, contestability and uncertainties. This edition has undergone a substantive law update. In covers the most salient legal developments and reflects the relevance for law of issues of contemporary interest and concern, such as artificial intelligence, ‘state capture’ and climate change.

Kleyn and Viljoen’s Beginner’s Guide for Law Students also exposes students to critical voices on existing law and encourages students to start developing their own informed opinions about the legal system and what it can and cannot achieve in addressing South African problems today. Students are invited to continually reflect on the implications of the ‘transformative’ Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 for the various dimensions of law. However, the book also shows that transformative constitutionalism is not free from its own limits and criticism. Relevant ‘decolonial’ critiques of transformative are therefore explored.