Research On The Cases Of Constitutional Court Of South Africa

South Africa's constitutional court is the product of the democratic interim constitution of 1993.The court was founded on February 14th, 1995. From then on till September 2010, the constitutional court has made 391 judgments of many kinds, involving right of equality, social and economic rights, political cases, the constitutionality of the death penalty, criminal Judicial process, freedom of religious belief and other constitutional issues. Through these judgments, South Africa has made great improvement in protection of human rights and maintaining the authority of the constitution. Now South Africa is a country in the leading positions on the applicability of the constitution.Judgments of right of equality display the constitutional court's resolution and concept to realize equality on everyone; judgments of social and economic rights display the constitutional court's attention and care of the welfare of the people; judgments of political cases reflect the excellent techniques of the constitutional court to deal with the complicated and delicate political problems and historical problems; judgments on the constitutionality of the death penalty display the awe of the constitutional court toward the right to life; judgments of criminal Judicial process display the constitutional court's resolution to safeguard procedural justice; judgments on freedom of religious belief reflect the constitutional court's prudent balancing and handling between public interests and religious freedom..Judgments of South Africa's constitutional court have several characteristics. Firstly, the number of the judgments is very large, involving all kinds of constitutional issues. Secondly, most of the judgments have the characteristic of openness and transparency. Common masses can participate in the judicial procedure, for example through the system of"Amicus Curiae". Thirdly, the constitutional court pays attention to applying international laws and referring foreign laws. Fourthly, the judgments allow the existence of different opinions, and all of the different views are recorded and documented in the written judgments.The judicial practices of South Africa's constitutional court have the great significance. Through all these judgments of more than ten years, South Africa has made great improvement in protection of human rights and maintaining the authority of the constitution. Now South Africa is a country in the leading positions on the applicability of the constitution. And also, the successful experiences of South Africa have important influence on the other southern African countries, it established a glorious model for all the other southern African countries, and thus promoted their constitutional development. The successful judicial practices of South Africa's constitutional court tell us we should also develop our democratic and constitutional system. In order to realize this aim, we should carry out political reforms and restructurings actively yet prudently, and accelerate the development of democracy with Chinese characteristics.