South African Law

South African Law Reports

South African cases are reported very selectively. There is no official South African report series. The most familiar unofficial reporter is the South African Law Reports (abbreviation = SA) (vol 1 1947 to current - held in print only), and according to AGLC, this is the report series that should be cited where possible. This series reports leading judgments from the superior courts: Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and High Courts, as well as selected judgments from Zimbabwe and Namibia. The Law Library holds the South African Law Reports in print only (Level 4). 

Prior to the South African Law Reports, a number of law reports cover South African cases from 1828 to 1946. Prior to the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, law reports were published for each of the High Courts in the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal. From 1910 onwards, decisions of the Appellate Division were reported in addition to the separate reports for the four Provincial Divisions. The Law Library holds these law reports on microform in off-site storage. They can be requested via the catalogue:

• The Cape Colony / Cape of Good Hope
  • Cases decided in the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope 1828-1849
  • Cases decided in the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope during the years 1850-1867
  • Cases decided in the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope
    • vol 1 1861-1867
    • vol 2 1871-1872
    • vol 3 1877-1878
  • Cases decided in the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope during the years 1868-1870 
  • Cases decided in the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope during the year 1880 
  • Cases decided in the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope 1880-1909
  • Cases decided in the Court of Appeal of the Cape of Good Hope 1880-1911
  • Decisions of the Supreme Court of South Africa (Cape of Good Hope) 1910-1946
• Natal (1867-1946) 
  • comprises: Natal Law Reports (1867-1932) and Digests and Reports from Natal Provincial Division (1933-1946).  
• Orange Free State  (1874-1946) 
• Transvaal 
  • Cases decided in the High Court of the Transvaal Province, July 1877 to June 1881 
  • Reports of cases decided in the Supreme Court of the South African Republic (Transvaal)1881-1892
  • Cases decided in the Transvaal Supreme Court 1902-1910
  • Reports of cases decided in the Witwatersrand High Court 1902-1910
  • Decisions of the Supreme Court of South Africa (Transvaal Provincial Division) 1910-1946

Other report series

• Butterworths South African Constitutional Law Reports (on LexisNexis Advance, 1991 to current (UniMelb staff and student access)) 

  • Provides selected decisions from the Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court pertaining to the interpretation of the South African Constitution. Also included are key constitutional law decisions from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana. Most decisions are in English, but a significant number are in Afrikaans. Each case has an extensive summary provided in English. This database can only be searched: there is no table of contents by year.

• Industrial Law Journal: including the Industrial Law Reports (on HeinOnline, from vol 1 1980 to current with a two-year embargo (UniMelb staff and student access))

  • Appeals from South African courts were heard by the Judicial Committee of the UK Privy Council until 1950. These were reported in the English authorised Appeal Cases (AC), which contain some important South African appeals. The Appeal Cases are available on ICLR (UniMelb staff and student access). The unreported decisions are available on the Privy Council Papers website, which links to full-text judgments on BAILII (open access), where available.