O’REGAN J
within the terms of the rule or existing authority. The rule is then not developed but
merely applied to facts bound by the rule. Secondly, however, a court may have to
determine whether a new set of facts falls within or beyond the scope of an existing
rule. The precise ambit of each rule is therefore clarified in relation to each new set of
facts. A court faced with a new set of facts, not on all fours with any set of facts
previously adjudicated, must decide whether a common-law rule applies to this new
factual situation or not. If it holds that the new set of facts falls within the rule, the
ambit of the rule is extended. If it holds that it does not, the ambit of the rule is
restricted, not extended.
[17]
The question we should consider is whether one characterises such cases as
development of the common law for the purposes of section 39(2). The overall
purpose of section 39(2) is to ensure that our common law is infused with the values
of the Constitution. It is not only in cases where existing rules are clearly inconsistent
with the Constitution that such an infusion is required. The normative influence of the
Constitution must be felt throughout the common law. Courts making decisions
which involve the incremental development of the rules of the common law in cases
where the values of the Constitution are relevant are therefore also bound by the terms
of section 39(2).
The obligation imposed upon courts by section 39(2) of the
Constitution is thus extensive, requiring courts to be alert to the normative framework
of the Constitution not only when some startling new development of the common law
is in issue, but in all cases where the incremental development of the rule is in issue.
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