The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was established in terms of section 178 of the South African Constitution and is regulated by the Judicial Service Commission Act 9 of 1994. The JSC plays a central advisory role in the selection of judges, as well as in the receipt and adjudication of complaints about judges.
The JSC is designed to play a crucial role in South Africa’s constitutional democracy, through ensuring the quality and independence of its judiciary.
The HSF’s joined proceedings against the Magistrate’s Commission as a ‘friend of the court’ (amicus curiae), when Mr Richard Lawrence approached the High Court to challenge the lawfulness of his being excluded from consideration as a permanent magistrate on the sole ground of his race. Mr Lawrence was successful before the High Court and again before the Supreme Court of Appeal, after the Commission appealed against the High Court’s decision.
